Bat For Lashes: Two Suns

Bat For Lashes is a pseudonym for Natasha Khan and “Two Suns” is her second studio album following on form her 2006 Mercury nominated “Fur and Gold”. Before reviewing the actual music, here’s a copy and paste from the press release of “Two Suns” harvested from Wikipedia:

"a record of modern-day fables exploring dualities on a number of levels – two lovers, two planets, two sides of a personality," bringing reflection about "the philosophy of the self and duality, examining the need for both chaos and balance, for both love and pain, in addition to touching on metaphysical ideas concerning the connections between all existence."

I’ve read and re-read the above quote a number of times now and it still makes no sense to me. Perhaps it’s because I have an allergy to words like “metaphysical” as I favour empiricist principles and more logical based philosophies. Maybe I’m just on a lower astral plane than Natasha (whatever that means), but I don’t really want to get hung up it; I’m far more interested in the musical and lyrical content of the album itself.

“Moon and Moon” combines piano and vocals in an elegant piece that must surely be a homage to Tori Amos. “Daniel” on the other hand is more in the style of Stevie Nicks with the softer vocals. To complete my trio of female musical references I would have to compare both songs with the world “sleep” in their title with Kate Bush.

As a dedicated fan of both Kate Bush and Tori Amos these are not comparisons I throw around lightly. Although I instantly appreciated her voice, her musical style and the great production of the album, it didn’t immediately produce that sonic spark that ignites that explosion of musical cerebral pleasure. However having now given it a few more listens it is becoming a real pleasure.