LUMP - Animal
The bridesmaid of the Mercury Awards (four nominations and counting), Laura Marling returns in tandem with her part-time collaborative partner Mike Lindsay of Tuung for their second outing as the charming moniker LUMP (in fairness, the name was provided by Marling’s five-year-old god-daughter) which is also their ‘mascot’, a furry hulking animal which appears on promotion etc.
Lindsay and Marling supposedly met on the bowling lanes at a Neil Young aftershow, with Lindsay promising to provide ‘strange, wonky music’ to which Marling could attach subconsciously obscure words and, while their first album was met with warm if not glowing reviews, it appears the pair felt there was much more left in the tank.
With an intent to offering an alternative to her usual confessional style, Marling adopts a more stream of consciousness approach; while the songstress should be lauded for a different attitude, it does unfortunately result in a mixed bag when it comes to musical enjoyment.