Another album, another early single we basically like…
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[6.50]
Juana Giaimo: As years have gone by, Laura Marling has portrayed herself in her lyrics as a voice of wisdom and experience, but the reason why I enjoy her character is because she also showed flaws and self-criticism. “Wild Fire” abandons this second half of her self-portrait for the observation of other people. It still has the bitterness and fragility that has always been part of her music — I love how her voice almost breaks when she sings “Do you cry sometimes?”. But above all, “Wild Fire” is reassuring because of its tender nature. The lyrics feature a lot of questions, but she seems to already know the answers to them all.
[7]
Katherine St Asaph: Laura Marling’s strength has long been documenting her fellow humans, sometimes with scorn, and sometimes I believe her; her best portraits, from “My Manic and I” to “Strange” and most of Once I Was an Eagle, are full of exhaustion and earned contempt. Even in her earliest songs, she indicts her un-fellow men: “He put Ryan Adams on, ’cause I think he thinks it makes me weak.” “Wild Fire” has none of that contempt — this song’s subject is a woman, perhaps not accidentally — but also none of the fire. Her voice, calm and redolent of maturity, is part of it; Marling’s music is best with more urgency.
[6]
Anthony Easton: I love how placid she is when discussing wildfire, and I love how she moves from speaking to singing, especially on “papa.” The strumming guitar has a mid-1970s Laurel Canyon vibe, though the drums ratchet the anxiety about. It is chattier than it should be, though.
[8]
Micha Cavaseno: Normally I arch my back at the whole “jazzy” = “boring” school of thought. But listening to Marling drawl and scat is like being smothered, in a lackluster fashion, by a really moldy pillow.
[2]
Tim de Reuse: The instrumental has a rough physicality that Marling’s talky, half-present cadence fits very well. It’s pleasant, but the rambling structure and stream-of-consciousness mundanity of the lyrics are disappointingly unintrusive. Destined to become the outro music for the second-season finale of the next big cable medical drama.
[6]
Ryo Miyauchi: In classic Laura Marling fashion, she sticks us in the middle of a tense conversation. The issue behind the debate remains unspoken. Even with her folklore metaphors out in favor of more casual speak, she still dances around the subject at hand. Honestly, it seems Marling herself doesn’t even know what it’s all about. But she turns that very fact into the song’s strength, inspiring a well-timed F bomb as well as a charming yet poignant chorus that writes a silhouette of a broken family.
[7]
Alfred Soto: I shivered with dread when the electric piano started to tinkle, but Laura Marling, who had not impressed me on earlier work, comes through with a strong performance that hugs the killer melody. Songs pledging or supporting friendship belong to one of my favorite subcategories.
[7]
Hannah Jocelyn: The same woman who once nervously joked about being a lesbian in stage banter now explores her sexuality and gender identity in ways only hinted at in the past, at a time where the mere expression of those things has become an act of defiance. While certain songs had their more explicit moments, as soon as first single “Soothing” came out, with its impressionistic, borderline-exhibitionist video, it became clear that Semper Femina would see Laura enter uncharted territory. Quoting a specific line from this song can’t do it justice when everything so intricately connects with itself, and especially when there are even references to Marling’s past work. The ‘beast’ of A Creature I Don’t Know and Once I Was An Eagle returns, and the way Short Movie’s “Easy” equated a drug high with a spiritual high is repurposed and inverted. Elsewhere, the verses have some of Marling’s most direct writing, verses two and three in particular containing some of the most outright romantic lyrics she’s ever recorded. Add in that haunting snare sound, and it results in another massive step forward for Laura, just when it seemed like Eagle would remain her crowning achievement.
[9]