''I Speak Because I Can'' is the second studio album by British singer-songwriter

Laura Marling Laura Beatrice Marling (born 1 February 1990) is a British folk singer-songwriter. She won the Brit Award for Best British Female Solo Artist at the 2011 Brit Awards and was nominated for the same award at the 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018 Brit ...

, released on 22 March 2010. Produced by

Ethan Johns Ethan Thomas Robert Johns (born 1969 in Merton, London, England) is an English record producer, engineer, mixer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Johns has worked with artists including Ryan Adams, Kings of Leon, Paul McCartney, Ray LaMo ...

, the album deals with "responsibility, particularly the responsibility of womanhood." The album was preceded by the singles "Goodbye England (Covered in Snow)", released on iTunes in December 2009 and "Devil's Spoke" on 15 March 2010. The next single released was "Rambling Man", on 10 May 2010. The track "What He Wrote" was inspired by letters from a wife to her husband in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. On 28 March 2010, ''I Speak Because I Can'' entered the official UK Charts at #4. and has been certified Silver for sales of 60,000 in the UK. Back-up vocals are provided throughout the album by Marcus Mumford, the lead singer and guitarist of London-based folk band

Mumford & Sons Mumford & Sons is a British folk rock band formed in London in 2007. The band currently consists of Marcus Mumford (lead vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, drums), Ted Dwane (vocals, bass guitar, double bass), and Ben Lovett (vocals, k ...

. These are especially prevalent on the tracks "Hope in the Air" and "I Speak Because I Can". Early radio promos of the album contained four tracks that did not make the final commercial release. Two of these tracks, "Mama, How Far I've Come" and "Nature of Dust" were made available as a b-side to the single "Rambling Man" and an iTunes bonus track, respectively; the other two tracks, "Rebecca" and "Is A Hope" have still not seen a commercial release to date. On the strength of the album, Marling won the

Brit Award for British Female Solo Artist The Brit Award for British Female Solo Artist was an award given by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), an organisation which represents record companies and artists in the United Kingdom. The accolade was presented at the Brit Awards, an ann ...

Background and themes

The themes are described by Marling as being centred on the roles of women and men in society. The album is written in the first person, but is rarely autobiographical. The song, ''Devil's Spoke'' is reported by Marling as being inspired by the Odyssey, while the final track, ''I Speak Because I Can'', is informed by Margaret Atwood's novella, The Penelopiad, a counterpoint to Homer's epic. The song, ''Goodbye England (Covered In Snow)'', according to Marling, is about a walk she and her family took to a church during winter.

Critical reception

''I Speak Because I Can'' was received with acclaim from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

, most noting the maturity and depth of the album, as well as Marling's rich vocals. The music aggregation site,

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, reported an average of 81, signifying universal acclaim. The record was listed in many end of year lists by publications, including being placed at number 8 on ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

s Albums of 2010. Marling won the best British solo artist at the Brit awards in 2011 for ''I Speak Because I Can''. In 2013, NME listed the album at 263 in their list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Track listing

All tracks by Laura Marling. # " Devil's Spoke" – 3:40 # "Made by Maid" – 2:51 # "Rambling Man" – 3:16 # "Blackberry Stone" – 3:28 # "Alpha Shallows" – 3:42 # " Goodbye England (Covered in Snow)" – 3:45 # "Hope in the Air" – 4:32 # "What He Wrote" – 4:07 # "Darkness Descends" – 3:40 # "I Speak Because I Can" – 3:59 # "Nature of Dust" – 1:29 (iTunes bonus track)

Personnel

– voice, guitar * Marcus Mumford – drums *

Winston Marshall Winston Aubrey Aladar deBalkan Marshall (born 20 December 1987) is an English musician and podcaster. He is best known as the former banjoist and lead guitarist of the British folk rock band Mumford & Sons. Prior to this he was in the bluegrass ...

– banjo *

Ted Dwane Ted Dwane (born Edward James Milton Dwane, 15 August 1984) is a British musician and photographer, best known for being the bassist of the Grammy Award-winning British folk rock band Mumford & Sons. Before this he was the bassist in experimental ...

– double bass * Tom Hobden – fiddle * Ruth De Turberville – cello * Pete Roe – keyboards

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 2010 albums Laura Marling albums Albums produced by Ethan Johns Virgin Records albums