“When we were in love, if we were, I was an eagle and you were a dove” sings the 23 year old on what is effectively the title track. The line from ‘I Was An Eagle’ serves as the album’s most accessible point on two counts
While it is one of the most exquisite and striking moments on the record, it is also one of her most open and easily interpretable analogies. Visually it is represented by the artwork where the songwriter lays herself bare empowered by her arms outstretched to symbolize an eagle.
Marling’s wordplay has always been more famous for its intricacies and mysteries than it has its sense of relatability.
However on Once I Was An Eagle the singer rewards her listeners by maintaining her eloquence yet demystifying much of the inspiration for her cathartic songwriting.
Her fourth record in five years reflects on love from various different emotional standpoints. “I will not love, I want to be alone” she cries on ‘Pray For Me’, yet not before declaring, “I cannot be tossed and turned in this way, I’m no-one’s tiny dancer,” on ‘Little Love Caster’.
First and foremost a songwriter, beyond her string plucking is the work of her partner in crime Ethan Jones. Her longtime producer conveys Marling’s lyrics and increasing vocal maturity through an Eastern sound.
Eagle though is not always as sonically consistent as the opening suite of four tracks that blend seamlessly together, with the organ carrying through ‘Once’ and ‘Where Can I Go’, while a hawkish swagger is provided on ‘Master Hunter’.
Yet in comparison to her previous three records Marling sounds more and more like the women she began to scratch the surface of on I Speak Because I Can, while she sounds as thrice as naïve on her debut than she declares herself on the closing track ‘Saved These Words’.
The singer even banishes the beast she so often alluded to on A Creature I Don’t Know in the very first line of this album. All of which signifies that this latest step in Marling’s own evolution is evidently her greatest accomplishment thus far.
