Best Bits: Bat For Lashes - Two Suns
So this is the first of the HMV albums that I bought to go through. I've picked out the stand out tracks for me, but if you think that another song should was better, please comment at the bottom of the post.
Bat For Lashes is the stage name of Natasha Khan. Her sound is very kind of mythical, and ethereal. This album, "Two Suns", came out in 2009 and is her second album.
Glass
Glass is the first track on the album. It's incredibly atmospheric, and there's no what you might call "proper" accompaniment until the second verse. It's really quite interesting. The video of this at Glastonbury was amazing as well, to check that out please click here.
Khan seems to be more focussed on her emotion and what she's singing about, rather than concentrating on making it pitch perfect. It just adds to the emotion of the song, in fact, that it's not completely pitch perfect. There's no noticeable off notes, don't get me wrong.
The drums are very tribal, and there's a lot of bass. It's an interesting combination that surprisingly works. Like I said before, it's very spacey and spiritual. A bit Kate Bush.
This album is meant to be like a concept album, so it has a recurring theme running through. Khan described this one as being about a girl called Pearl who is very much in love with someone called Daniel, the name of another song that we will come to later.
The lyrics are incredibly passionate:
Youtube:
Bat For Lashes is the stage name of Natasha Khan. Her sound is very kind of mythical, and ethereal. This album, "Two Suns", came out in 2009 and is her second album.
 |
| Courtesy of: http://www.flickr.com/photos/loveleeannette/508397794/ |
Glass
Glass is the first track on the album. It's incredibly atmospheric, and there's no what you might call "proper" accompaniment until the second verse. It's really quite interesting. The video of this at Glastonbury was amazing as well, to check that out please click here.
Khan seems to be more focussed on her emotion and what she's singing about, rather than concentrating on making it pitch perfect. It just adds to the emotion of the song, in fact, that it's not completely pitch perfect. There's no noticeable off notes, don't get me wrong.
The drums are very tribal, and there's a lot of bass. It's an interesting combination that surprisingly works. Like I said before, it's very spacey and spiritual. A bit Kate Bush.
This album is meant to be like a concept album, so it has a recurring theme running through. Khan described this one as being about a girl called Pearl who is very much in love with someone called Daniel, the name of another song that we will come to later.
The lyrics are incredibly passionate:
"I will rise now
And go about the city
In the streets
Broadways I seek
Him whom my soul loveth
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
And I tried to hold him
I tried for the creed
I'll make a suit of colours
To stop the blinding mirrors
Sew a cape of red and gold
Stifle up the beam
With the perfect armour
With a perfect dream
To be made of glass
When two suns are shining
The battle becomes blinding
To be made of glass
But we ride tonight
Tonight, tonight, we ride
And with two suns spinning
At two different speeds
Was born a hot, white diamond
Burning through the rainbow
Flames fell into orbit
To hold eternally
Two heavenly spirits
That just wouldn't seem
To be made of glass
When two suns are shining
The battle becomes blinding
To be made of glass
But we ride tonight
Tonight, tonight, we ride
Hey, oh
Hey, oh oh oh
Hey, oh
Hey, oh oh oh
Hey, oh
Hey, oh oh oh
Hey, oh
Hey, oh oh oh"
We find the album title in the chorus. Perhaps a reference to "Pearl" and "Daniel"?
Youtube:
Spotify:
Moon And Moon
This song is incredibly simple, but very beautiful, full of wistfulness and longing. It starts with a simple piano melody which recurs throughout the song. It's very lovely. The lyrics are good as well; the character, "Pearl", sings as though she's completely lost without her lover:
"Lover, when you don't lay with me
I'm a huntress for a husband lost at sea
If I had you here, better here together
I'd be boy and you'd be girl, beautiful"
I don't really understand why, in the first line, she describes her man as "lover", and in the second line she calls him her "husband". "Lover" conveys a kind of frivolous, non-committal relationship, whereas "husband" is obviously quite the opposite. I also don't really know what a "big bad hand" is either, as appears in the chorus:
"Calling moon and moon
Shoot that big bad hand
It'll drag me to your door
And I won't see you no more"
Again, in the second verse, she talks about a "big bad hand". Does she mean like when you describe bad luck as a bad hand? There's also a really interesting effect, a rhythm created by backing singers in this verse. It gives it a slight edge, so rather than Khan/Pearl lamenting over the loss of her love, it makes her sound slightly more determined to find him:
"When this wild world
Is a big bad hand
Pushing on my back
Do you understand? When I get home
Down in the jungle
Where's my bear to lick me clean?
Feed my soul milk and honey"
The backing singers keep on in the last chorus:
Calling moon and moon
Shoot that big bad hand
It'll drag me to your door
And I won't see you no more
I won't see you no more"
Youtube:
Spotify:
Daniel
Now we get to the song about The Guy.
This was the first single released from this album. I personally think it has more of what you might call a "normal" sound. It's still very mystical and all that, I mean, how many people can combine maracas and synths in one song?! But yeah it's a bit more regular.
The lyrics portray an obsessive, deep and intense love, like before:
"Daniel
When I first saw you
I knew that you had a flame in your heart
And under our blue skies
Marble movie skies
I found a home in your eyes
We'll never be apart
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 vast, Daniel
Under a sheet of rain in my heart
Daniel, I dream of home
But in a goodbye bed
With my arms around your neck
Into our love the tears crept
Just catch in the eye of the storm
And as my heart ran round
My dreams pulled me from the ground
Forever to search for the flame
For home again, for home again
When I run in the dark, Daniel
To a place that's vast, Daniel
Under a sheet of rain in my heart
Daniel, I dream of home
When I run in the dark, Daniel
To a place that's vast, Daniel
Under a sheet of rain in my heart
Daniel, I dream of home"
Now, I really do like this song, but I've got to be honest, it makes me laugh a bit. Please don't take offence if your name is Daniel, but I just personally think... well it's not the most romantic of names is it? I just struggle to take it seriously... hehe.
Something you can say for Natasha Khan though, is that her lyrics seem incredibly intelligent and smart. It's almost as though she's putting music to poetry. And yes, I know you could say that about a lot of songs, but how many lyrics could stand on their own without music and still work as poetry?
Youtube:
Spotify:
Siren Song
This song starts off with a piano and simple vocals. The lyrics this time are more like a stream of consciousness from this character, Pearl. It's like a diary entry, what's going on in her head. She sounds a bit crazy:
"Are you my family?
Can I stay with you a while?
Can I stop off in your bed tonight?
I could make you smile
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"
The accompaniment up to this point is literally just piano chords, giving it an atmospheric feel, like the previous songs. It's really great. Then the chorus:
"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"
At the end of the first line of the chorus, bass, drums and strings are also introduced and the piano plays fast chords, which heightens the atmosphere and makes it more tense. This continues into the next bit:
"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"
This is then all dropped, and it's simplicity once again with the main melody, piano and harmonies which have some kind of effect on which could be distortion.
"Help you dress yourself up fancy
Bathe you when you get sore
I'll be good, I think I could be all
You would want and more and more
Be proud when you dazzle the wondrous
Glitter your eyes for the town
Tell every last boy that you're my man
Try not to let you down"
The same thing happens again in the next chorus, everything builds back up:
"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 stars are exploding in the night"
The tension is heightened some more with the introduction of a snare drum, played like in a marching band throughout the last bit until the end:
"It won't be long until you'll break
No, it won't be long until you break
It won't be long until you break
It won't be long until you break
'Cause I'm evil, 'cause I'm evil"
In this song, we get more of an insight into this character; what she thinks about herself, how devoted she is to this guy Daniel, even what she looks like.
Youtube:
Spotify:
So that's what I think. What do you think?
Which was your favourite track?
Comments
Post a Comment