Semper Femina

Semper Femina is the sixth studio album by British singer-songwriter, Laura Marling, and was released on 10 March 2017, on More Alarming Records. The album was produced by Blake Mills. The album's title is taken from the song "Nouel".

Semper Femina
Studio album by
Laura Marling
Released10 March 2017 (2017-03-10)
Recorded2016
GenreFolk, folk rock, alternative rock
Length42:19
LabelMore Alarming Records
ProducerBlake Mills
Laura Marling chronology
Short Movie
(2015)		 Semper Femina
(2017)		 Song for Our Daughter
(2020)

Themes

Described by Alexis Petridis of The Guardian as a "concept album about femininity and female relationships",[1] the title Semper Femina, borrowed from the ancient poet Virgil, is an expression from a longer line of Latin poetry, which roughly translates to “woman is ever a fickle and changeable thing".[2]

Reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?8.2/10[3]
Metacritic85/100[4]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[5]
The A.V. ClubA[6]
The Daily Telegraph[7]
The Guardian[1]
The Independent[8]
NME[9]
The Observer[10]
Pitchfork7.7/10[11]
Q[12]
Rolling Stone[13]

Semper Femina received critical acclaim upon its release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 85, based on 31 reviews.[4]

The album earned Marling a Grammy Award for Best Folk Album nomination.

Accolades

In The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop, a poll regarding the best albums of the year as voted by more than 400 American music critics, Semper Femina tied with Valerie June's The Order of Time (2017) at the 89th spot, both LPs garnering 84 points.[14]

Publication Accolade Rank Ref.
The A.V. Club The Best Albums of 2017 So Far —
[15]
ABC News 50 Best Albums of 2017
31
[16]
AllMusic Best of 2017 —
[17]
Consequence of Sound Top 50 Albums of 2017
27
[18]
Digital Trends 50 Best Albums of 2017
46
[19]
Drowned in Sound Favourite Albums of 2017
9
[20]
Earbuddy 100 Best Albums of 2017
74
[21]
Esquire (UK Edition) 50 Best Albums of 2017 —
[22]
Exclaim! Top 10 Folk and Country Albums of 2017
3
[23]
Fopp The Best in 2017
23
[24]
The Guardian The Best Albums of 2017
19
[25]
Mojo 2017: The Best of the Year
25
[26]
musicOMH Top 50 Albums Of 2017
26
[27]
Noisey The 100 Best Albums of 2017
76
[28]
NME NME's Albums of the Year 2017
49
[29]
No Ripcord The Best Albums of 2017
34
[30]
Paste The 50 Best Albums of 2017
31
[31]
Q Best of the Best: 2017 in Music
42
[32]
The Sydney Morning Herald Top 20 Albums of 2017 —
[33]
Treble The Top 50 Albums of 2017
45
[34]
Uncut Best Releases of 2017
21
[35]
Under the Radar Top 100 Albums of 2017
58
[36]
The Village Voice Pazz & Jop
89
[14]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Laura Marling, except for Soothing which was written by Laura Marling and Blake Mills

No.TitleLength
1."Soothing"4:18
2."The Valley"5:40
3."Wild Fire"4:50
4."Don't Pass Me By"5:10
5."Always This Way"4:33
6."Wild Once"4:23
7."Next Time"4:00
8."Nouel"4:53
9."Nothing, Not Nearly"4:32

Personnel

Musicians

  • Laura Marling – vocals, guitar
  • Matt Ingram – drums
  • Nick Pini – bass
  • Pete Randall – guitar
  • Blake Mills – guitar
  • Rob Moose – strings, arrangements
  • Matt Chamberlain – additional drums
  • Sebastian Steinberg – additional bass

Charts
Chart (2017) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[37] 19
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[38] 53
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[39] 21
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[40] 153
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[41] 22
French Albums (SNEP)[42] 113
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[43] 42
Irish Albums (IRMA)[44] 9
New Zealand Heatseekers Albums (RMNZ)[45] 5
Scottish Albums (OCC)[46] 4
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[47] 46
UK Albums (OCC)[48] 5

References
  1. Petridis, Alexis (9 March 2017). "Laura Marling: Semper Femina review – telling details and big ideas". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
  2. "This woman's work: Laura Marling". DIY.
  3. "Semper Femina by Laura Marling reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  4. "Reviews and Tracks for Semper Femina by Laura Marling". Metacritic. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
  5. Monger, Timothy. "Semper Femina – Laura Marling". AllMusic. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  6. Waite, Kelsey J. (10 March 2017). "Semper Femina is Laura Marling at her best". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  7. McCormick, Neil (1 June 2017). "From Alt-J to The Amazons: the best albums of the year 2017". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  8. Gill, Andy (1 March 2017). "Album reviews: Laura Marling – Semper Femina, Grandaddy – Last Place, Alison Krauss – Windy City and more". The Independent. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
  9. Bartleet, Larry (7 March 2017). "Laura Marling – 'Semper Femina' review". NME. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
  10. Empire, Kitty (12 March 2017). "Laura Marling: Semper Femina review – sexism and a newfound slinkiness". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  11. Monroe, Jazz (14 March 2017). "Laura Marling: Semper Femina". Pitchfork. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  12. Barton, Laura (April 2017). "Fantastic Voyage". Q (370): 113.
  13. Hermes, Will (13 March 2017). "Review: Laura Marling Sings Woman-to-Woman on 'Semper Femina'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  14. "Pazz & Jop: It's Kendrick's and Cardi's World. We're All Just Living in It.". The Village Voice. 22 January 2018. Retrieved 23 February 2018
  15. "The Best Albums of 2017 So Far". The A.V. Club. 29 June 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2018.
  16. Raible, Allan (27 December 2017). "50 best albums of 2017". ABC News. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  17. "Best of 2017". AllMusic. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  18. "Top 50 Albums of 2017". Consequence of Sound. 26 December 2017. p. 2. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  19. Hall, Parker (2 December 2017). "The 50 Best Albums of 2017". Digital Trends. p. 1. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  20. Adams, Sean (3 December 2017). "Favourite Albums of 2017". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on 23 November 2017. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  21. "100 Best Albums of 2017". Earbuddy. 11 December 2017. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  22. Ovenden, Olivia (7 December 2017). "The 50 Best Albums Of 2017". Esquire. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  23. "Top 10 Folk and Country Albums of 2017". Exclaim!. 4 December 2017. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  24. "The Best of 2017: Albums". Fopp Official Website. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  25. "The best albums of 2017: the full list". The Guardian. 5 December 2017. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  26. "290 / January 2018". Mojo. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  27. Hubbard, Michael (22 December 2017). "Top 50 Albums Of 2017". musicOMH. Retrieved 23 February 2018.
  28. "The 100 Best Albums of 2017". Noisey. 6 December 2017. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  29. "NME's Albums of the Year 2017". NME. 23 November 2017. Retrieved 28 November 2017.
  30. "The Best Albums of 2017". No Ripcord. 18 December 2017. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  31. "The 50 Best Albums of 2017". Paste. Wolfgang's Vault. 27 November 2017. p. 5. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  32. "When Liam Met Ed... The New Issue, Out On Tuesday". Q. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  33. Mathieson, Craig (14 December 2017). "Top 20 albums of 2017: From proven stars to those starting out ". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 23 February 2018.
  34. "The Top 50 Albums of 2017". Treble. 8 December 2017. p. 1. Retrieved 23 February 2018.
  35. "January 2018". Uncut. Retrieved 23 February 2018.
  36. "Top 100 Albums of 2017". Under the Radar. 30 December 2017. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  37. "ARIA Australian Top 50 Albums". Australian Recording Industry Association. 20 March 2017. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  38. "Austriancharts.at – Laura Marling – Semper Femina" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  39. "Ultratop.be – Laura Marling – Semper Femina" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  40. "Ultratop.be – Laura Marling – Semper Femina" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  41. "Dutchcharts.nl – Laura Marling – Semper Femina" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  42. "Le Top de la semaine : Top Albums – SNEP (Week 11, 2017)". Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  43. "Offiziellecharts.de – Laura Marling – Semper Femina" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  44. "Irish Albums Chart: 17 March 2017". Irish Recorded Music Association. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  45. "NZ Heatseekers Albums Chart". Recorded Music NZ. 20 March 2017. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  46. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  47. "Swisscharts.com – Laura Marling – Semper Femina". Hung Medien. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
  48. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
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