(photo: batforlashes.com)
There are days when I think I carp on about the blandness and lack of originality in today’s music scene without giving credit where credit is due. It’s not easy to have an original idea (God knows I’ve been void of them for the better part of a decade now). All you have to do is watch any given episode of American Idol to see how narrow the scope of original ideas in pop music is. On Wednesday night, I caught Lady Ga Ga’s performance on the show and it was, without a doubt, an impressive and spectacular performance of what’s is admittedly a pretty unique sounding pop song. Say what you will about Coldplay, but it’s not often you hear a song with the instrumentation of “Viva La Vida” on the radio. Without any disrespect to those artists who are out there putting themselves and their creativity on the line, it’s true what Fluxblog proclaims in its blog header, we bloggers are pounding through the sludge, looking for the hidden gold. And fur.
The good stuff can get lost in that sludge. I pretty much all but ignored Bat For Lashes when Fur and Gold appeared in 2007, making the stupid assumption that the world didn’t really need another female singer-songwriter (a la Björk, Tori Amos and PJ Harvey) right now. Even as the accolades and invitations to tour with Radiohead starting pouring in for Natasha Khan’s one-woman musical project, I didn’t go back and check out the album to see what the fuss was. I’m realizing the errors of my ways now, as I’m falling head over heels for her new album, Two Suns. It’s a mesmerizing modern album that plays with electronica, folk and traditional rock sounds, mutating and moving elements around to fit mood and theme. In the process, the soundtrack to Khan’s new musical persona, Pearl. Stepping outside of herself and writing in third person may have been a coping mechanism for dealing with the breakup that informs much of Two Suns, but it doesn’t detract from the immediacy and intimacy of Khan’s performance. The most refreshing thing about Bat For Lashes for me is the way Khan brings a forceful feminine quality to a musical sub-genre that is usually dominated by by a fey masculinity that verges on being pathetic. Khan is what Radiohead would sound like with estrogen hormone replacement therapy, and I don’t mean that to sound derogatory. She’s not trying to play in the big boy’s league, she’s creating one of her own. Not even Feist can claim to have done that.
Two Suns balances it’s more artistic leanings with an equal dose of accessibility and pop perfection, like yin and yang, and with its release on Tuesday, Natasha Khan has just might become 2009’s most unlikely pop star. And that’s a good thing.
MP3: Bat For Lashes “Daniel”
Facebook: Bat For Lashes
Myspace: Bat For Lashes
Buy: Bat For Lashes Two Suns
8 Comments so far
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I love that song–Daniel. I had never heard of Bat for Lashes before. It’s such a unique, beautiful song. Thank you for sharing it. I’m looking forward to the Two Suns album coming out on Tuesday. Itunes has previews of the songs. Sounds like a great album.
Comment by Kennedy 04.03.09 @ 10:55 pmYou’ve gotta check out the video for “what’s a girl to do.” It gave me fucking chills! And check out my new blog! (http://terriblesting.blogspot.com/)
Comment by Yuki 04.04.09 @ 2:46 pmOur tastes are usually right in synch but, I have to say (with apologies), I think this is dreadful–especially lyrically where I think it is just trying way too hard. “Kissing the eye of the storm”? Um, what?
Comment by Chalmers 04.05.09 @ 9:56 pmNever a need to apologize for having an opinion, or else I’d be apologizing with every post, Chalmers. I admit that it’s not something I’d typically like, but I think in the context of the whole album, it makes sense. It probably wouldn’t help if I told you that it was inspired by Ralph Machio’s character in The Karate Kid, would it?
Comment by Jim 04.05.09 @ 10:22 pmOk, so I caved and gave this a listen even after telling myself not to. I’ve heard so much freakin hype over this album and I knew I should just stay away, but NO I couldn’t … ugh.
Can we simply say Sharleen Spiteri and just be done with it, guys? She did this, Texas did this, years ago and as good or better. Yes, it’s great to have women’s voices in music and for that reason alone I’ll not attack your music sensibilities on this, but honestly… Madonna could have sang this track (maybe did in that era with the bull fighter fetish).
I love you all, but there’s other women out there doing things that push the envelope, this is sexy and cool and for what it is, it’s good, but it’s not the next new amazing thing.
xoxo,
Tart
I never really paid attention to the first album, so maybe that’s why I’ve been taken by this stuff. The Texas comparison is an interesting one, Tart… I never would have drawn that parallel. Spiteri never got her due on this side of the Atlantic. Still, point taken; there are other women out there doing things that push the envelope.
Comment by Jim 04.07.09 @ 7:11 amHey Jim,
I’m willing to check out the album. I disliked Fur and Gold very much. Pitchfork overrated it BIG time. So I’m going to see if your Feist statement holds. If not you’re in for it 
.
Oh man, I can’t believe how much reaction this post is getting. Al, I’m ready to take you on! But be gentle with me, I’m a delicate spring flower, you know.
Comment by Jim 04.10.09 @ 12:50 pmLeave a comment
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