Natasha Khan, better known by her pseudonym Bat For Lashes, is the Brighton beauty behind 2006 masterpiece Fur And Gold, nominated for the Mercury Music Prize and two Brit Awards. The album's blend of spooky childhood reveries and magical piano balladry caught the imagination of many, while others dismissed it as tortuous claptrap.
An equally ambitious follow-up from start to finish, Two Suns delves into the philosohpy of the self and duality. Metaphysical ideas about the connectedness of existence are also close to the album's heart. From the sparse, unpredictable arrangement of Glass to the powerful, hypnotic and psychedelic Two Planets, there's a story told through sound at every turn.
What's truly beautiful about Natasha Khan, is that her music invariably feels saturated with emotion and meaning. Sure, the concept here is an outrageously bombastic cliché, but with a mystical array of songs with crystal clear imagery to back it up, the whole thing knits together quite nicely.
An album of epic artistic proportions, its a wonder that Two Suns' gestation took only three years; at times it sounds like it could've taken a lifetime to dream up. Mature, progressive, and entirely fantastical, this is a dynamite album that looks set to confirm its creator as the UK's most fascinating and individual pop princess.
FemaleFirst - Anthony Hill
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