Each taste is different

Marling is quite like a psychologist: she’d rather listen and guide than outright disclose meaning. Something that is a significantly important distinction of her work compared to other singer-songwriters is that Marling wants her listeners to find a space for themselves instead of them constantly looking for her in the music. Marling tells me a story about how, earlier in the week, a girl stopped her on the street at 7:30 in the morning while she walked around the city in search of a bagel. She was struck that this girl had recognized her at all but also then that this stranger immediately burst into tears, saying how grateful it was to have met Marling. “I’m not a mainstream artist and, not until this album, there hasn’t been very many pictures of me available by my design. So it doesn’t happen very often to me. I was taken aback and I feel an emotional relationship. Because I’m really emotional. The reason she feels emotional listening to my music is because I’m emotional too.”