Music Review: 'Two Suns' by Bat for Lashes

By Amanda Sorell

Thursday, April 16, 2009

When Natasha Khan, also known as Bat for Lashes, opens her mouth to sing, it feels like an otherworldly experience; her high voice, eerie melodies and majestic instrumentations are mystical and beautiful. With her second album, Two Suns, Khan rises above her 2006 release, Fur and Gold, by creating music that is more bold and creative than ever before.

The airy echoes and harmonies on “Moon and Moon” sound like a lullaby of sorts, and the first single, “Daniel,” brings synth-pop qualities to the album and is one of several tracks that features a collaboration with Brooklyn-based experimental band Yeasayer.

Throughout the album’s entirety, Khan plays with concepts and themes of duality, as well as her alter ego, Pearl—Pearl’s golden locks rival Khan’s jet-black tresses, and Pearl’s nature is more destructive and bold than Khan’s spiritual disposition, which can be seen in “Siren Song” when Khan sings, “My name is Pearl … my blonde curls slice through your heart.”

The track “Two Planets” hosts an array of percussive instruments and claps. “The Big Sleep” is a song with a beautiful piano part and more of Khan’s mystical tones accompanied by Scott Walker’s deeper ones, which combine in a powerful duet to bring Khan’s ambitious and ethereal album to a close.

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