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Two Suns | 
| Artist: Bat For Lashes
Label: EMI
Category: Music
List Price: £11.99
Buy New: £4.75
as of 25/11/2009 18:45 GMT details
You Save: £7.24 (60%)
New (48) Used (2) from £4.75
Seller: XYZCDUK
Rating:  27 reviews
Sales Rank: 279
Format: CD
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.9 x 0.4
EAN: 5099969302022
ASIN: B001RQ0SJO
Release Date: April 6, 2009
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Glass | | • | Sleep Alone | | • | Moon and Moon | | • | Daniel | | • | Peace Of Mind | | • | Siren Song | | • | Pearl's Dream | | • | Good Love | | • | Two Planets | | • | Travelling Woman | | • | The Big Sleep |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
Love, and the loss of love, consumes every second of emTwo Suns/em, the second album from Brighton-based Natasha Khanrsquo;s Bat For Lashes. But if yoursquo;re looking for anything as prosaic as a straightforward love song, you wonrsquo;t find it here: emTwo Suns/em is every bit as heady, dramatic and fanciful as its predecessor emFur And Gold/em, its narratives of romance and heartbreak elevated into tales of knights in crystal armour, sailors lost at sea, and planets held in orbit; rich with imagery, and with sonic ambition to match. Kate Bush remains the obvious antecedent: Khanrsquo;s melodramatic vocals are a close ringer, and even relatively sparse moments like "Moon And Moon" are presented with grand, baroque arrangements of piano and strings, rich with detail. But such quasi-medieval textures are balanced out by neat excursions into electronic pop, best experienced on "Pearlrsquo;s Dream", noir-ish disco swathed in icy synthesisers. Finally, therersquo;s an unexpected cameo on "The Big Sleep", a gothic epilogue that sees Scott Walker duet with Khan in his high, operatic quaver. A big step forwards from Bat For Lashesrsquo; debut, and a suggestion of good things to come. ndash;ndash;emLouis Pattison/em
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 27
 Stunning, beautiful, incredible... March 4, 2009
Ian Shine (England)
22 out of 32 found this review helpful
I can't think of enough superlatives to describe this record.
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br /I have the first Bat For Lashes album and am not a huge fan of it, so didn't really expect myself to buy her second offering, but after hearing 'Daniel' on the Rob da Bank show it sounded like she was moving in a slightly more mature and experimental direction and so I gave Two Suns a shot.
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br /The album is moving much more into the Bjork-y shaped pigeon hole people seem to be pushing her towards, more musically than vocally. There's a lot of dominant drumming, very tribal in places and it gives the album a real drive. This is particularly noticeable on 'Two Planets' and 'Glass', in which the drum rhythms are reminiscent of early LFO and Bjork's 'Post'.
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br /Vocally it's reminiscent of Kate Bush and Joanna Newsom, as well as Bjork, as those who heard the first record will know.
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br /The stand out tracks are 'Daniel' and 'Pearl's Dream', dreamy pieces that don't lack impetus but really embody the innovative, more developed sound that Bat For Lashes seems to have found.
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br /There are also comparisons to be drawn with other seminal female artists, such as PJ Harvey and CocoRosie, noticeably on the piano-led 'Travelling Woman'. And I have no doubt that in a few years this will be looked back on as a seminal record in itself.
Female of the year April 8, 2009
J. Ball (Manchester, UK)
10 out of 15 found this review helpful
If anyone has seen Bat For Lashes live (which i did last night) they will have come to realise the beauty and talent this lady carries. Fur and Gold, her debut, was an excellent spring board to catapult Natasha (her real name) into the spot light, earning her a Brit and Mercury nomination. I am a huge fan of Fur and Gold so naturally i was excited on listening to this second album.
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br /Instantaneously you notice the Bjork, Fleetwood Mac, general 80s influence. The album kicks of with Glass, a heavily drum and synth (main album theme) orbited song, which is an excellent opener. The album then moves from strength to strength, Sleep Alone, of course Daniel, Pearls Dream all rapturous songs. The piano based songs (i.e. the slower ones) are not quite as gripping as those featured on her pervious album and for me can get a tad boring.
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br /Just when you thought the album was drifting off into an electro slumber Two Planets explodes through you speakers. For me, this is one of her best songs to date.
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br /Overall, this album is an excellent continuation of the work on Fur and Gold, the album is more coherent, definite, conceptual, electronic and definitely more mature. Also I think her fetish for powerful drum beats has increased. I have no doubt this will secure Natasha as one of the UKs biggest and best talents. Buy this album is you loved the previous one or if you are a fan of Kate Bush, Ladyhawke, Annie Lennox, Fleetwood Mac and all that jazz - I definitely implore you to check her out live!
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br /Enjoy!
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To be made of glass June 7, 2009
E. A Solinas (MD USA)
7 out of 11 found this review helpful
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.
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br /"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. .
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br /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.
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br /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...").
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br /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."
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br /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).
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br /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").
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br /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.
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br /"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.
Britain really has got talent! April 29, 2009
Music fan (Brighton, England)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
You can keep your televised Karaoke shows. This is more like it. Yet another brilliant female singer.
br /Natasha Khan has an absolutely beautiful voice. Comparisons have been made to other singers such as Kate Bush, Tori Amos and Bjork. Personally, I'm reminded of Heather Nova towards the end of the album. All in all, good company to keep.
br /More eloquent reviewers here, have broken down the album and/or given better reviews but I just think this is a wonderful album. At times hypnotic and mesmerizing.
br /The opening track "Glass" has become a personal favourite. That and for the fact that the album is never uninteresting, earns 5 stars.
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astonishing April 27, 2009
Mr. J. Fulton (united kingdom)
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
The haunting vocals on his cd really are astonishing , i can,t stop listening to certain tracks , its definately an inspired body of work , the vocals being the glue which hold it all together , i dont feel tempted to over analyse it or describe it as pure genius , somehow it works and its mesmerising enough to stop you in your tracks and think wow . I really hope this is not just a one off and that there is more to come i think natasha khan has a unique touch when it comes to making music ...
Showing reviews 1-5 of 27
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