With our music industry in total disarray in modern times, good music is hard to come by and thank god Bat For Lashes (Solo artist Natasha Khan) has come back. 'Two Suns' is the follow up to her debut 'Fur And Gold' in 2007 and for the second time, Natasha Khan doesn't disappoint.
Natasha Khan has clearly delved into her inspirations well in this album, and demonstrates this in the opener 'Glass', where Khan has looked to native influences mainly from America. The drumming, is the main notation in this song, it's simple, but clearly effective as Khan, going back to those native American influences, brings out some lovely bellowing drum thumps that give it's listeners a feeling of being in native tribes in the empty deserts of America. Khan's vocals also doesn't falter either, still hitting the high notes, she also maturely knows how to keep the rhythm of her vocals in tune with the music, something she is a master at.
Natasha Khan also sent demonstrates why she's so good and this is pretty much all evaluated on 'Daniel'. Which includes everything, catchy chorus, amazing and haunting vocals and another thing that Bat For Lashes is a master at, fantastic lyrics. 'Daniel' paces itself out slowly to start with, a simple clashing drumbeat and then what sounds like a keyboard flash, in comes the bass line which pretty much sets the entire song apart from everything else on the album. After the chorus the song breaks up into a synthesizer jaunt, then Natasha re-introduces herself into the song again with lyrics like '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' which are beautifully crafted lyrics and just another signal of Khan's genius.
We should know by now, that Natasha Khan doesn't hold back, if she wants to let herself loose she will and even if she lets herself sound like her influencers. 'Peace of Mind' highlights a particular similarity in vocal style to Jefferson Airplane's Grace Slick. Remember 'Somebody To Love'?, well Khan's vocals are pretty much on the same tone as Slick's. Although, what sets the two songs apart is that Khan has created more of a native American Indian (again) feel to 'Peace of Mind' compared to the psychedelic hippie anthem 'Somebody to Love'. We're soon put into the piano ballad 'Siren Song', this is a typical Bat For Lashes song, it almost sounds like it could have been on 'Fur And Gold'. Still, Khan provides a change in the form of a ringing piano build up and a build up of intense singing, as Khan provides yet another epic masterpiece.
The second half of 'Two Suns' you could accuse of falling away, but this is definitely an album worth sticking around for, even for 'Pearl's Dream', which is beautiful track possibly influenced by MGMT with a slight electronic drumbeat in the vein of the New York duo. If there is one song Khan has put a lot of effort into, it would be 'Two Planets'. Dominated by hand-clapping throughout, it also again has that native American Indian drumming to it, but the song isn't structured entirely through those components, 'Two Planets' is focused on Khan's eerie vocals and charming lyrics. If there is any criticism to be made, it would be in the closer, 'The Big Sleep', it would be a delightful song without Scott Walker's vocals, they just contrast badly and makes it almost cringe-worthy to listen to and almost wastes Khan's efforts on the musical side of the song.
What can you say about 'Two Suns'? It's a masterpiece in it's own right, built around a lot of historical influences, it definitely shows that Khan's trip to New York has had a significant impact on her music and all for the best, it almost seems any direction Khan would take, it wouldn't be a wrong one, but I guess you can accuse Bat For Lashes for being quite melodramatic or even a bit of the same ol', same ol' sort of thing. One thing however, you cannot label Bat For Lashes as, and that's talent-less. Natasha Khan is probably Britain's most talented female vocalist around at the moment, and after 'Two Suns' she ain't going to give that up with out a fight.
4/5
Linus Broadbent.
Saturday 17 October 2009
Monday 12 October 2009
St. Vincent - Actor
St. Vincent's (Annie Clark) second album comes in at quite a change in style and, if you dare, enjoyment in comparison to 2007's 'Marry Me'. 'Actor' is a unique blend between electronic pop and indie folk even as distant as styles from 1940's war time music in the form of love and romance. But St. Vincent however vamps he later up into dreamy and formulated synth pop, which will make it's listeners wonder where she draws her inspiration from.
'The Strangers', the first song of 'Actor' and starts out with that 1940's war time music feel mentioned above. The recurrent lyric throughout the whole song being 'Paint the black hole blacker' gives of the impression to listeners that she is either a mad artist or everything that's going on in her life is just a little bit miserable and might as well 'Paint that black hole blacker'. However, the song does kick itself out of that 1940's war time feel and enters into a little bit of Bloc Party, do see 'Song For Clay (Disappear Here) for full effect, but what St. Vincent does with it, is basically not included guitars and just included synthesizers and giving off some fuzzy sounds to warm us with delight. Second up is 'Save Me From What I Want', which in it's title, is a bit ironic don't you think? But none-the-less, Miss. Clark adds her own little bit of grace. The song is focused on a twirling guitar trail that leads into a mellow chorus where she melodically sings the title of the song.
The key song of the album is demonstrated in the first half of the album, which includes the title of the album, 'Actor Out Of Work'. This song has it all really, the catchy drumming loops, the catchy synthesizers and of course the quirky lyrics, but again, Annie Clark adds to it by adding some experimentation to it, and she highlights this at the drop of a hat and when you least expect it, she fills in a synthesizer car crash by running around her synth machine and hitting it as loud as she can to create her full desire. Going back to those quirky pop lyrics, St. Vincent proves her quirkiness by singing her 'Woo, Woo's' and of course lines like this 'I think I love you, I think am maddd' just makes you wanna love her, despite how mad she might be.
Another surprise with this album is that, not only St. Vincent creates perfect pop hooks, but she can even pull it of, by adding violins to it, even verging on swing. This is all demonstrated in 'Laughing With A Mouth Of Blood', the main structure of the song is completely fitted around in a steady simple drum beat and plus, the odd fill ins of the acoustic guitar which pluck curiously. Plus, let's not forget, Annie's brilliant quirky lyrics are a complete treasure as she sings to herself in a dream, with a line like 'And I can't see the future, but I know it has big plans for me'. The weirdness continues, straight into 'Marrow' we enter, starts out in a slow tempo, with another steady drum beat giving the song it's rhythm, but again, Annie Clarke shows up and brings her dirty synth notes to the table and blasts us into the future. The synth solo is probably the most notable point of the entire song, it's an all out full scale attack, with noisy electronica influences coming from everywhere, almost makes you feel if your listening to Nine Inch Nails' 'The Great Destroyer'.
No one really expects St. Vincent to be the next Bjork or if you want to be extreme, Madonna. But she is herself and she brings her talents forward in superb fashion, again in comparison to her debut, 'Actor' really brings out the potential Annie Clark has been hiding all along while touring with Sufjan Stevens band.
3½ / 5
Linus Broadbent.
'The Strangers', the first song of 'Actor' and starts out with that 1940's war time music feel mentioned above. The recurrent lyric throughout the whole song being 'Paint the black hole blacker' gives of the impression to listeners that she is either a mad artist or everything that's going on in her life is just a little bit miserable and might as well 'Paint that black hole blacker'. However, the song does kick itself out of that 1940's war time feel and enters into a little bit of Bloc Party, do see 'Song For Clay (Disappear Here) for full effect, but what St. Vincent does with it, is basically not included guitars and just included synthesizers and giving off some fuzzy sounds to warm us with delight. Second up is 'Save Me From What I Want', which in it's title, is a bit ironic don't you think? But none-the-less, Miss. Clark adds her own little bit of grace. The song is focused on a twirling guitar trail that leads into a mellow chorus where she melodically sings the title of the song.
The key song of the album is demonstrated in the first half of the album, which includes the title of the album, 'Actor Out Of Work'. This song has it all really, the catchy drumming loops, the catchy synthesizers and of course the quirky lyrics, but again, Annie Clark adds to it by adding some experimentation to it, and she highlights this at the drop of a hat and when you least expect it, she fills in a synthesizer car crash by running around her synth machine and hitting it as loud as she can to create her full desire. Going back to those quirky pop lyrics, St. Vincent proves her quirkiness by singing her 'Woo, Woo's' and of course lines like this 'I think I love you, I think am maddd' just makes you wanna love her, despite how mad she might be.
Another surprise with this album is that, not only St. Vincent creates perfect pop hooks, but she can even pull it of, by adding violins to it, even verging on swing. This is all demonstrated in 'Laughing With A Mouth Of Blood', the main structure of the song is completely fitted around in a steady simple drum beat and plus, the odd fill ins of the acoustic guitar which pluck curiously. Plus, let's not forget, Annie's brilliant quirky lyrics are a complete treasure as she sings to herself in a dream, with a line like 'And I can't see the future, but I know it has big plans for me'. The weirdness continues, straight into 'Marrow' we enter, starts out in a slow tempo, with another steady drum beat giving the song it's rhythm, but again, Annie Clarke shows up and brings her dirty synth notes to the table and blasts us into the future. The synth solo is probably the most notable point of the entire song, it's an all out full scale attack, with noisy electronica influences coming from everywhere, almost makes you feel if your listening to Nine Inch Nails' 'The Great Destroyer'.
No one really expects St. Vincent to be the next Bjork or if you want to be extreme, Madonna. But she is herself and she brings her talents forward in superb fashion, again in comparison to her debut, 'Actor' really brings out the potential Annie Clark has been hiding all along while touring with Sufjan Stevens band.
3½ / 5
Linus Broadbent.
Monday 5 October 2009
Paramore - brand new eyes
This album comes a bit of a surprise like many other albums this year, but for Paramore, this is a bit of a hard rock orgy at points and considerably grown up in parts. I guess we all expected them not to follow up 'Riot!' so well but they have and if not, emulated it.
Going back to the hard rock orgy that was mentioned above, Paramore demonstrate this in 'Careful' the opening track to 'brand new eyes'. Most notably, is Zac Farro's drumming which is particularly gentle but harsh with thunderous power. When Hayley Williams singing starts, you begin to hear echo's from 'Misery Business' from their previous album 'Riot!', but how it parts itself away from 'Misery Business' is that it's a lot harder and more grown up vocally, considering Hayley is only, like 20? The up tempo start to 'brand new eyes' doesn't stop there, straight after 'Careful' we're slashed right into 'Ignorance' which starts in a stuttering guitar intro which stops to a thick bass line and a muted guitar sound which Hayley, almost talking, sings 'If I'm a bad person you don't like me well I'll make my own way, it's a circle I mean cycle' which oozes her confused sensibility. Again, the tempo doesn't die on track three, well it does, but not for long, when you hear the slow guitar lines from Josh Farro, you think Paramore are going to go all emo on us, but thankfully they snap out of it and Hayley booms out swagger-like lyrics like 'Next time you point a finger, I might have to bend it back or break it, break it off' which gives us the impression, if you fuck with her, you'll burn for it.
Paramore's third release is full of wonderful little surprises and 'The Only Exception' is definitely one of them. It's a beautiful love song about never falling in love, but one day finding that one 'Exception'. The song is built around a slow acoustic guitar melody, accompanied by the odd bass fill ins, but the highlight of the song is Hayley Williams vocals, as you can imagine falling in love with the girl or guy of your dreams listening to her sweet but far out voice. Paramore go back to the hard rock orgy straight after the romance of 'The Only Exception' in 'Feeling Sorry' which is a song about not having sympathy for anyone or wasting time about 'Feeling Sorry' for people. It starts out in forced and hard guitar mode, along with clashing drums and a flowing bass line and again, Hayley's blasted vocals which sound like they've been turned up to max... or wait, isn't that already Hayley's singing everyday?
Going back to those little surprises in 'brand new eyes', well again they have landed another one, with 'Misguided Ghosts' and this song is just about two people who have no direction in life, doesn't conform to normal ideas of life, just go their own way, whether they've walked the same road once before, it doesn't matter, because whoever they are, they're just misguided. 'All I Wanted' is probably one of the songs Paramore went all out for, it's a guitar drenched anthem and Hayley is battling with it, with her high screaming vocals shouting out 'All I Wanted Was You!' I thank that speaks for itself what the song is about.
'brand new eyes' is probably one of the most surprising albums of the year, especially after all the problems Paramore were having within the band. They seem to be sorted now and grown up a bit and showed they're not just one of those 'emo' bands. Because with this album, they are leaving that scene behind and will outlast a lot of other bands coming from there to. If you don't like the hard rock feel from 'brand new eyes' then surely the camp fire setting of the acoustic ballads like 'The Only Exception' and 'Misguided Ghosts' will charm you enough to warm to them.
4/5
Linus Broadbent.
Going back to the hard rock orgy that was mentioned above, Paramore demonstrate this in 'Careful' the opening track to 'brand new eyes'. Most notably, is Zac Farro's drumming which is particularly gentle but harsh with thunderous power. When Hayley Williams singing starts, you begin to hear echo's from 'Misery Business' from their previous album 'Riot!', but how it parts itself away from 'Misery Business' is that it's a lot harder and more grown up vocally, considering Hayley is only, like 20? The up tempo start to 'brand new eyes' doesn't stop there, straight after 'Careful' we're slashed right into 'Ignorance' which starts in a stuttering guitar intro which stops to a thick bass line and a muted guitar sound which Hayley, almost talking, sings 'If I'm a bad person you don't like me well I'll make my own way, it's a circle I mean cycle' which oozes her confused sensibility. Again, the tempo doesn't die on track three, well it does, but not for long, when you hear the slow guitar lines from Josh Farro, you think Paramore are going to go all emo on us, but thankfully they snap out of it and Hayley booms out swagger-like lyrics like 'Next time you point a finger, I might have to bend it back or break it, break it off' which gives us the impression, if you fuck with her, you'll burn for it.
Paramore's third release is full of wonderful little surprises and 'The Only Exception' is definitely one of them. It's a beautiful love song about never falling in love, but one day finding that one 'Exception'. The song is built around a slow acoustic guitar melody, accompanied by the odd bass fill ins, but the highlight of the song is Hayley Williams vocals, as you can imagine falling in love with the girl or guy of your dreams listening to her sweet but far out voice. Paramore go back to the hard rock orgy straight after the romance of 'The Only Exception' in 'Feeling Sorry' which is a song about not having sympathy for anyone or wasting time about 'Feeling Sorry' for people. It starts out in forced and hard guitar mode, along with clashing drums and a flowing bass line and again, Hayley's blasted vocals which sound like they've been turned up to max... or wait, isn't that already Hayley's singing everyday?
Going back to those little surprises in 'brand new eyes', well again they have landed another one, with 'Misguided Ghosts' and this song is just about two people who have no direction in life, doesn't conform to normal ideas of life, just go their own way, whether they've walked the same road once before, it doesn't matter, because whoever they are, they're just misguided. 'All I Wanted' is probably one of the songs Paramore went all out for, it's a guitar drenched anthem and Hayley is battling with it, with her high screaming vocals shouting out 'All I Wanted Was You!' I thank that speaks for itself what the song is about.
'brand new eyes' is probably one of the most surprising albums of the year, especially after all the problems Paramore were having within the band. They seem to be sorted now and grown up a bit and showed they're not just one of those 'emo' bands. Because with this album, they are leaving that scene behind and will outlast a lot of other bands coming from there to. If you don't like the hard rock feel from 'brand new eyes' then surely the camp fire setting of the acoustic ballads like 'The Only Exception' and 'Misguided Ghosts' will charm you enough to warm to them.
4/5
Linus Broadbent.
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