Meet British singer-songwriter phenom Laura Marling, in Big Sur Friday.

Laura Marling is a kinetic force. She hasn’t stayed in one town for more than two or three weeks since she was 16. The attraction to nomadic life prepared the musician well. Over the past seven years, Marling has been touring perpetually behind four records, three of which have been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize (the U.K.’s Grammy). She also scored “Best Solo Artist” at the NME Awards in 2011.

Then the 25-year-old tried a slightly different approach with her fifth album, released last March. “I thought ‘I wonder what will happen if I try and root myself somewhere?’” Marling says.

For six months, she stayed in L.A., didn’t tour and refrained from anything music-related. The result: the intense, electrified, best and most accessible work of her career thus far, Short Movie.

For those new to Marling, here’s a list of five songs, one from each of her five albums, that will have you craving more.

1. “Warrior” (Short Movie): The opening track off Marling’s latest resonates thanks to a potent Los Angeles-inspired epiphany: “I cannot protect you from who you want to be,” she sings. Marling rarely uses vocal effects, but the synthed out, auto-tune yields an ethereal, dreamlike sensibility mixed with a manufactured vibe. It’s like a sophisticated L.A. putdown.

2. “My Manic and I” (Alas, I Cannot Swim): Marling’s masterful debut, which hit the streets when she was 18, is busting at the seams with greatness. And it’s not because her then-BF Marcus Mumford lends backing vocals and accordion throughout the record; it’s for the understated melancholy carried on the shoulders of a sole cello and piano.

3. “What He Wrote”(I Speak Because I Can): Inspired my wartime love letters from a wife to her husband during WWII, Marling delves into some of the uncomfortable matrimonial territory experienced during wartime with aplomb.

4. “Master Hunter” (Once I Was an Eagle): Marling’s fourth album scored widespread props. It made The New York Times’ year-end Top 10 list along withRolling Stone’s 50 Best Albums of 2013. It’s difficult to pick a fave, but lyrically, “Master Hunter” oozes satisfying power: “Wrestling a rope from darkness is no fucking life that I would choose.”

5. “Salinas” (A Creature I Don’t Know): Marling has cited John Steinbeck as a huge literary influence, so just on principle, this song must be included. Oh, and the song happens to be addictive too.

LAURA MARLING. 7pm (6pm doors) Friday, Aug. 7. Loma Vista Gardens, Big Sur. $47. www.folkyeah.com