Bat for Lashes-Two Suns

Originally Written and Posted at Epinions.com on 4/26/09.

One of the newest artists emerging in the U.K. that doesn't fit around the mold of Amy Winehouse soul singers is Natasha Khan under her moniker Bat for Lashes. The half-Pakistani/half-English singer-songwriter has garnered some attention for her 2007 debut album Fur and Gold that's compared her to the likes of Bjork, Annie Lennox, and Kate Bush. A video release for the single What's A Girl To Do that featured Khan riding a bike with fellow people in costumes at night gave her some considerable attention. In 2009, Khan returned with her sophomore release that broadens her sound to new heights entitled Two Suns.

Written by Natasha Khan with production by Khan and David Kosten, Two Suns is an album filled with electronic music textures mixed in with folk and indie music. A conceptual record of sorts relating to the theme of duality, Khan brings in an alter-ego named Pearl to help exemplify her themes. Featuring members of Yeasayers as well as the legendary Scott Walker on a track. Two Suns is one of 2009's most surprising yet enchanting albums of the year.

The album opener Glass arrives with Natasha Khan's breathy, evocative vocal with descriptive, imagery-laden lyrics. With bass-pounding beats and washy guitar strums with chime-like percussions, it's Khan's vocals that drive the song with its dreamy vocals and wobbly bass line. With sputtering snare fills and Khan's wailing vocals, it's a song that sets the stage for all that is to come. Sleep Alone is a bouncy, mid-tempo track with twangy acoustic guitar riffs and warbling bass synthesizers. With Khan's swooning vocals and thumping bass beats with clapping beat accompaniments, the song is filled with lyrics of nighttime and loneliness. With a soothing synthesizer accompanying the chorus, it's arrangements and layered production help shape its sound.

Moon And Moon is a piano ballad with its somber, flourishing melodies performed by Khan as she sings in her breathy yet melancholic vocal tone. With its eerie, morose lyrics, it's accompanied by soft claps and backing vocals to help with its atmospheric yet dream-like tone. The first single Daniel arrives with soft, blaring synthesizers and smooth, pounding bass beats that accompanies Khan's evocative vocals filled with dreamy, romantic lyrics. With a bouncy snare beat and melodic, swooning synthesizers, the song's chorus led by Khan's enchanting vocals is carried through its production and a melodic guitar track that follows the chorus. Peace of Mind is a folky ballad with washy acoustic guitar strums with soft, warbling bass lines and pounding bass beats. With Khan's dreamy vocals with lyrics dealing with spiritual-laden lyrics and a backing choir on some parts. Its dissonant guitar performance and ethereal arrangements led by Khan's superb vocal performance makes the song a highlight.

Siren Song is a piano ballad led by Khan's haunting yet enchanting vocals with lyrics that are melancholic about day-to-day life and other thematic qualities. With the piano performance intensifying with droning bass textures in the background, it's Khan's vocals that shine in its powerful performance with siren-like performance. Even as the song returns to its somber tone with backing vocals accompanying her. Pearl's Dream is a rhythmic, bouncy track with sputtering beats, tingling percussions, and melodic synthesizers swoon. With Khan's seductive vocals with dark, worldly lyrics, it features a great chorus filled shimmering backgrounds and Khan's vocals accompanied by backing vocals with its layered yet hypnotic production. Good Love is led by a swooning organ with soft, synthesizer flourishes that play to Khan's raspy vocals. With soft, clapping percussions and Khan's swooning vocals filled with imagery, metaphoric-lyrics, it has Khan do a brief spoken word that adds a unique narrative while maintaining the song's slow yet unique arrangements.

Two Planets is a song with throbbing, pounding beats and percussion taps that accompany Khan's smooth yet ethereal vocals. With its dark, ominous lyrics and Khan's chilling vocals, its throbbing rhythm and arrangements intensify a bit, it's Khan's wailing vocals that take charge with its hypnotic approach and atmospheric production. Travelling Woman is another piano ballad with a thumping beat and swooning arrangements. With Khan's dreamy vocals and somber lyrics, it's a song that has a simple presentation while maintaining its soothing, atmospheric feel. The album closer The Big Sleep with Scott Walker is an enchanting piano-driven ballad that features Khan's ethereal vocals with Walker's more low-sounding, operatic vocal. With its droning textures in the background and mesmerizing, imagery-laden lyrics, it's a song that serves as a fitting closer to the entire album with its simple piano-ballad presentation.

Two Suns is a mesmerizing yet enchanting masterpiece from Bat for Lashes. Thanks in parts to its ethereal, dream-like production, rhythmic arrangements, and Natasha Khan's evocative vocals. With vocals reminiscent of the likes of Bjork and Annie Lennox along with music that is a style similar to those vocalists along with Kate Bush. It's a record from start to finish that grabs the listener and wouldn't let go until the end. Overall, Two Suns is one of 2009's most intoxicating records from Bat for Lashes.

Bat for Lashes Albums: Fur and Gold

(Bat for Lashes/Other Lives-8/17/09 Atlanta, GA the Loft @ Center Stage)

(C) thevoid99 2011

Bat for Lashes-Fur And Gold

Originally Written and Posted at Epinions.com on 5/26/09.

One of the most interesting new artists to come out of Britain, Natasha Khan who is known as Bat for Lashes is a singer-songwriter that is known for creating dreamy, esoteric music. With influences ranging from Annie Lennox, Kate Bush, and Steve Reich, Khan has been gaining critical acclaim in recent years for her esoteric sounds ranging from piano ballads to more world-music, electronic-driven pieces. In 2007, Khan released her debut album under the Bat for Lashes moniker entitled Fur and Gold.

Written by Natasha Khan and produced by Khan and David Kosten, Fur and Gold is a record filled with Khan's earthy, dream-like vocals and a musical presentation ranging from piano ballads, dreamy electronic pieces, and elegant arrangements ranging from Oriental to European. With lyrics filled with heartbreak, innocence, and other themes. It's a record that is haunting yet mesmerizing that showcased Khan's unique talents as Fur and Gold is a fascinating, well-crafted debut album.

The album opener Horse And I arrives with tingling melodies of string instruments and harpsichords for an Indian-like presentation. With its haunting string accompaniments, Khan's dreamy vocals arrive with dark lyrics filled with imagery-laden surroundings. The song is then accompanied by a cadence-like drum fill accompaniment as Khan's vocals carry the track. The album's second single Trophy arrives with a low-sounding bass line with thumping electronic beats and a hollow, striking piano accompaniment. With shaking percussions accompanying Khan's ethereal vocals, the song includes some very esoteric lyrics as growling guitars and clapping rhythms arrive. Tahiti is a folk-style ballad with flourishing piano accompaniments by Khan as she plays along to some plucking string instruments. With her descriptive, dream-like lyrics, it's Khan's vocals that really take shape for the song. Especially its chorus as she sings in an elegant, high-pitch vocal with tingling chimes in the background.

The fourth single What's A Girl To Do? is the album's standout track with hollow, thumping beats and flourishing harpsichord performance. With an accompanying electronic beat and Khan's smooth vocals filled with heartbreaking lyrics, it's the song's chorus with Khan's vocals that really add a haunting quality with its wonderful, layered production. Sad Eyes is a melancholic piano ballad with slow, somber melodies as Khan's dreamy vocals really shine. With its lyrics filled with lots of sadness and heartbreak, it's another cut that really stands out. The first single The Wizard arrives with a melodic piano solo along with a smooth bass line with tapping percussion beats. With a bouncy rhythm accompaniment, Khan's vocals filled with mystical lyrics is one of the song's highlights along with its unconventional presentation.

The third single Prescilla is a rhythmic track led by foot-stomps and claps with flourishing autoharp accompaniments and Khan's dreamy vocals filled with lyrics about a strange girl named Prescilla. With its chorus filled with tingling guitar riffs and clapping rhythms, it's a good song though a bit overdone in its presentation. Bat's Mouth is a piano ballad accompanied by soothing, somber string arrangements. With Khan's breathy, angelic vocals filled with melancholic lyrics, the song becomes intense with its broad string arrangements and high-pitch, windy sounds. Seal Jubilee is a dreamy ballad led by a melodic guitar track and Khan's dreamy vocals partially distorted in its production. With a flourishing accompaniment of vibraphones in the background, it's a song filled with esoteric lyrics and screeching violins in the background as it's a track that displays Khan's unique vocal performance.

Sarah is an electronic-driven track with thumping beats, warbling synthesizers, and hollow bass lines. With Khan's eerie vocals filled with dark lyrics, she is accompanied by other female vocalists with bouncy synthesizer tracks accompanying Khan's vocals. With its unique production and unconventional presentation of instruments on top of another, it's another standout cut on the album. The final track I Saw A Light opens with an array of voices with warbling electronic backgrounds that becomes a piano ballad. With Khan performing the track, it's a song filled with Khan's somber vocals and eerie lyrics as a momentum-building violin starts to screech in providing a fitting close to the album.

While it doesn't feature a lot of standout songs, Fur and Gold is still an excellent debut release from Bat for Lashes. While the follow-up Two Suns would show a fuller, more developed sound and presentation that would give Natasha Khan huge acclaim. Fur and Gold is worth listening to hear how Khan has grown from her debut to her now acclaimed follow-up release. Even as there's some songs that are brilliant, particularly the single What's A Girl To Do? that includes a great music video of her riding a bike with other people and doing tricks. In the end, Fur and Gold is a stellar, well-crafted debut release from Bat for Lashes.

Bat for Lashes Albums: Two Suns

(Bat for Lashes/Other Lives-8/17/09 Atlanta, GA the Loft @ Center Stage)

(C) thevoid99 2011