Two Suns

This album is now available on Last FM at the moment and I urge you to go there and listen to it. To my mind, its a clear evolution from Fur and Gold - the primitive, tribal influences are still there, but the sound is more dancey, more electronic - it feels very early 1980s synth. However, whilst this early Eurythmics / Depeche Mode synth sounds seems to be all the rage, the lyrics are outstanding as ever from Natasha Khan, and, above all, the album seems to be permeated by a very zen, calm, perhaps even isolated, feeling. I understand from hearing and reading interviews about Two Suns that a lot of it was produced as Bat for Lashes travelled around on tour, and whereas Fur and Gold seemed to conjure up mental images of knights and maidens and Camelot, this album has a strong feeling about the mid West USA about it - National Parks, Canyons, wild nature.

In short - its as beautiful and haunting as you would expect from this wonderful artist. I urge you to catch her on tour - I was fortunate to see her at the secret show at the Wedgewood Rooms in Southsea recently and it was a tour de force. 10/10!

It's like climbing a long velvet rope sewn with golden charms and jewels. That description sums up the experience of listening to Bat For Lashes (aka Natasha Khan), even in her lesser songs. And fortunately "Two Suns" doesn't really have any lesser songs -- just a steady stream of painfully exquisite, crystalline pop that focus on the feeling of love that's gone.

"In the street's broadways I seek... him whom my soul loveth," she sings softly in the introductory song, before switching to a mix of tribal drums and wafting keyboard. .

After that, she spreads out into a string of love songs -- in fact, this entire album is pretty heavy on those. Most are bittersweet descriptions of an affair falling apart ("I drove past true love once, in a dream/Like a house that caught fire, it burned and flamed"), but there are some beautifully idealistic moments as well.

Along the way, Khan dabbles in some stompy synthy dance, a hymnlike freak-folk ballad backed by a choir, and the warmly off-kilter "Traveling Woman," and a finale that evokes old wooden stages, toy pianos and an old theatre being shut down ("No more spotlights/coming down from heaven... and already my voice is fading/goodbye, my dears/and into the big city...").

Fortunately she doesn't abandon her signature sound, which is that of an old fantasy story mutating into a beautiful, slightly wicked dream -- swirling pop, haunting piano ballads, the soaring and unnerving echoes of "Siren" and its synth-studded companion "Pearl's Song," ethereal melodies swathed in shimmering keyboard, and the exotic sweet danciness of "Two Planets." But the absolute peak of the whole thing has to be "Daniel," an catchily effervescent ode to a man with a "flame in his heart."

One of the biggest questions that comes to mind when listening to "Two Suns" is -- why is the music industry flooded with no-talent pop hacks, when such exquisitely vibrant music is right there for the listening? It's an album with stunning vocals and instrumentation, and lyrics that evoke images of forests on fire, magicians, crystal cities, and an alter ego Khan calls Pearl (who is either a femme fatale or a fantasy traveler).

Khan's music is, if possible, even more beautiful than before, mainly because she's managed to polish the instrumentals even further. In most songs she weaves together a shimmering wall of hauntingly silky keyboard with drums, violins, sharp beats and painfully pretty piano, but sometimes she also pares it down to the bare essentials ("Peace of Mind").

But Khan's voice is one of the loveliest things in this album -- she can sing powerfully or wistfully, and she even shows that she can manage a song almost a capella ("Peace of Mind" again). Her songwriting is even better: she can conjure powerful emotions with vivid swathes of words ("I drove past true love once, in a dream/Like a house that caught fire, it burned and flamed"). It's almost sensual.

"Two Suns" is a lush, lovely album that shows how much Natasha Khan's music has grown in the last year, and reminds you of the dark, beautiful places just out of reach.

I came across Bat For Lashes when I went to see the Radiohead gig at London on the summer of 2008, and boy was I in for a surprise. After the gig, I started listening to the, by-then only album Fur and Gold. From tip to toe it was absolutely beautiful. Her lyrics are very deep and her voice is something of a kind. I imediately fell in love and now that I can afford it I bought both of her albums.

By the way, when I first listened to Two Suns I was kind of disappointed, but then I took my time and listened it a couple more times. It's great. And I believe Travelling Woman can be my favourite song of them all, although it's really hard to pick one. It's one (two!!) of those albums where you like each and every song. And that doesn't happen very often. For me, that I can remember right now, it only happens with... Radiohead!!

Plus, the DVD on the special edition is really a plus. Natasha is a very sweet girl, and you really understand more of her songs if you listen to her explanations. By the end of the DVD you really see the big picture. It was very nice, because sometimes we listen to an album and we don't go beyond the 11 or 12 songs, and there's so much more behind that. The DVD really is a glimpse into the creative mind of the artist.

Absolutely 5 star!

Oh, and once again, amazon service proved flawless!