Bat For Lashes - Two Suns Review

Posted by Vanessa Willoughby on 04.20.2009

Bat for Lashes, the stage name of British singer and songwriter Natasha Khan, releases a sophomore album that could easily propel her into the ranks of icons like Tori Amos and Kate Bush.



TRACK LIST:
1. Glass
2. Sleep Alone
3. Moon and Moon
4. Daniel
5. Peace of Mind
6. Siren Song
7. Pearl's Dream
8. Good Love
9. Two Planets
10. Travelling Woman
11. The Big Sleep

Bat For Lashes sophomore album, Two Suns, is a much needed tour de force that successfully and breathtakingly showcases British singer and songwriter Natasha Khan’s ethereal voice, while conjuring the soul-tugging vocals of female singers such as Cat Power, Tori Amos, Fiona Apple and Kate Bush. From start to finish, the album is a sweeping epic of rhythm and motion, that makes even the most common subjects of love, loss, and lust transform into entirely new subjects.

Two Suns seems to carry the weight of decades, while bearing the accumulation of countries and transcending cultures. Khan’s wanderlust permeates the entire album, as Two Suns was written and recorded around the world, from California to the picturesque Welsh countryside, to the concrete jungles of New York and London. Khan’s additional background as a visual artist certainly enhances the quality of the record, as each song is rich with layers and layers. Like the inside of a redwood tree, each song consists of multiple elements that are not necessarily detected with the first listen.

“Glass,” which opens the record, plays like the wake-up call to a colony of fairies and sprites. Her voice is the only thing prevalent for the first few seconds, until the drums faintly enter. Khan’s voice describes a world that is half fairy-tale, half surreal, as she sings:

“Went over the sea
What did I find?
A thousand crystal towers
A hundred emerald cities
And the hand of the watchman
In the night sky
Points to my beloved
A knight in crystal armor.”

The combination of Khan’s voice and the dreamy, flowing musical arrangement is intoxicating. And although some may simply classify Khan as “pop,” she proves that her music is more than the compilation of a few catchy melodies. Like her exalted peers, her music falls much more into the category of art. The second track, “Sleep Alone,” is the embodiment of Warhol’s Nico with Middle-Eastern flair. Not only does Khan make use of the traditional instruments such as the drums and bass, but it’s the inclusion of possible instruments such as the sitar and the wood agogo that make both the song and Khan’s style nearly impossible to categorize as specific to one geographical area or musical genre. It goes without saying that without Khan’s soulful voice, the musical arrangement wouldn’t have as much of an impact.

The following track, “Moon and Moon,” is piano-driven, heavily reminiscent of Tori Amos or PJ Harvey’s most recent solo effort, White Chalk. She confesses:

“Lover when you don't lay with me
I'm a huntress for a husband lost at sea
If I had you here, we were here together
I'd be boy and you'd be girl, beautiful.”

Somewhat of an atmospheric departure from the previous two songs, “Moon and Moon,” sustains a melody that is peaceful, rather than emotionally controlled. Instead of holding back a threatening onslaught of emotion, the song is calm without being melancholy.

Khan’s lyrics are incredibly poetic, almost to the point of functioning like an abstract painting. Some of the phrases are more so meant to encourage and purely capture emotion, rather than literally describe something concrete. For example, in the song “Daniel,” Khan recollects about a love affair straight out of a cinematic paradise, a hazy wonderland.

“And when the fires came
The smell of cinders and rain
Perfumed almost everything
We laughed and laughed and laughed
And in the golden blue
Crying took me to the darkest place
And you have set fire to my heart

When I run in the dark
Daniel
To a place that's worst
Under a sheet of rain in my heart."

One of the many highlights of Two Suns is the sixth track, “Siren Song.” Could there be a more perfect title for this song? True to the seductive and enchanting nature of the literary and mythological sirens, Khan’s voice coupled with the piano chords creates a panorama of aesthetics. As expected, the lyrical composition would make even the most devout English major swoon. Khan is both siren and Penelope, awaiting the return of her Odysseus. She vows:

“In the morning I'll make you breakfast
In the evening I'll warm the bed
And I'll always be happy to kiss you
Promise I'll never get sad

Till the siren come calling calling
It's driving me evil evil
I was a heart breaker I loved you
The same way I do
But I've got so much wickedness and sin

My name is Pearl
And I'll love you the best way I know how
My blonde curls slice through your heart
And the siren come calling
In the night till the light.”

The song culminates in the wounded fall of Khan’s voice, the slow fade of the piano and the static-filled hum of the synthesizers. It’s a smart segue way into the next track, “Pearl’s Dream,” which utilizes the synthesizer and generally more of an electronic-inspired sound than “Siren Song.” Think less Tori Amos or Fiona Apple and more Kate Bush, circa Hounds of Love. The introductory chords of the song certainly feel like a throwback to someone like Bush, yet without coming across as antiquated or dated. Khan knows how to use the strength of her voice, lyrics, and artist vision to cross genre boundaries and time periods without getting stuck with the label of “tired” or inaccessibly retro. The theme of awaiting the return of loved one is repeated in “Pearl’s Dream,” as Khan sings about the literal occurrence of a battle and the metaphysical power of the Universe and the stars.

“Good Love,” the eighth track, is momentarily reminiscent of the opening chords of the “Wedding March,” and then immediately breaks into an entirely different direction. Over the gravelly echo of an organ, Khan laments about lost love and the agony of letting the prospect of happiness slip through her fingers. And despite the frequent analogies to the disintegration of love, namely the metaphor of love burning like a house on fire, the listener can’t help but be amazed at the beauty of her voice and the musical composition itself.

The final track, “The Big Sleep,” mimics the curtain call of a tragic opera. Khan is accompanied by the somber baritone of Scott Walker, former lead singer of The Walker Brothers. It’s an unlikely combination but the final result is achingly haunting. The contrast of Khan’s fairy-voice and Walker’s rumbling bravado is the perfect conclusion to a record dedication to the preservation and the adoration of the raw, the guttural, the emotional, the natural. And yet, despite the finality of “The Big Sleep,” despite the blindingly sharp image of a wilted Ophelia succumbing to her watery bed, you’re still awaiting for the encore.

The 411: Two Suns is as close to perfect as an album can get. The musical and lyrical arrangement are the supreme reflection of a true artist.

Final Score:  9.0   [  Amazing ]