I first started obsessing over Bat For Lashes with the release of "Two Suns". I thought Natasha Khan's blend of Folk, Indie Pop, Baroque Pop, up against a strangely mystic, almost foreign sounding atmosphere to be absolutely breathtaking. Her followup 2012 album "The Haunted Man" showed Natasha branching out into some more elaborate, slightly more electronic sound, which she honestly still pulled off very well. Outside of that, Khan's been pretty quiet for the last 4 years (Outside of that Sexwitch project she did with the members of TOY, which I feel like no one paid attention to, but I thought was actually really interesting). Then all of a sudden I hear about Bat For Lashes doing these elaborate over-the-top shows where concert goers were asked to where formal attire (With Khan herself performing in a wedding dress). I thought that was one hell of a marketing plan, especially since this new album here is called "The Bride", and quickly this became one of the albums I've been anticipating the most. Without any more waiting, here's Bat for Lashes "The Bride",
(The track that got me hooked completely on Bat for Lashes).
This album starts off with the very cute and enchanting “I Do”. It’s filled with whimsical keyboards and light harp pluckings, paired up with Natasha’s soaring angelic voice. Now when I first heard this track months ago, I didn’t know what to think. It’s the shortest track Bat For Lashes has ever done by far, and there’s really not much that happens within it. But honestly, when it comes to the context of the album, it fits really perfectly. Now I’m going to explain the concept of this album once, cause I don’t want to repeat myself. “The Bride” is essentially about a bride whose husband dies in an accident on their wedding day, and everything that follows (Which starts off kinda sad with her thinking about honeymooning alone, but then ends up having to do with aliens at one point…..I think?). But as far as “I Do” goes, it’s a solid intro. It builds up the joy that our protagonist feels thinking of the vows her and her fiancé will share the next day. The strings that eventually float in foreshadow something bad may just happen soon. It’s far from the biggest track or the boldest statement, but Natasha sounds absolutely heavenly beyond words, and it sets up for later tracks. I’ll give you this though, listening to this track by itself is a little underwhelming. Up next is “Joe’s Dream”. Right off the bat, were treated to a much somber tone, with slow guitar licks and even slower pounding drums. This track just has such a looming presence, with gigantic tones and a thick atmosphere. Natasha here sounds absolutely heartbroken, like she’s really given it 110% to come off as this Bride character. The chorus here is short (if you want to even call it a chorus), but it’s easily the most chilling thing I’ve heard from Natasha in years. While the story here on the album is far from streamlined, and it often gets a little cluttered, Natasha constantly makes it believable. The atmosphere here continues to be absolutely suffocating, and every instrumental is so calculated and precise. The last Bat For Lashes project, “The Haunted Man”, was strong, but it also lacked a certain mysticism and spirituality that this has here. “Joe’s Dream” is stunning, so much so that I honestly feel like this track should have been a single. Next up we have “In Gods House”. Going into this album, I did hear there were some synth pop elements, and low and behold, here they are. “In God’s House” starts right off with heavy synths melodies, but still remain heavy in atmosphere, clearly this is the most somber record Natasha’s done by far. Now while this track is very important to the narrative, it’s a little sluggish at times. The chorus though picks up nicely, featuring spiraling keyboards as well as an absolutely stunning vocal performance. As “In God’s House” continues, it just keeps getting heavier in tone. The atmosphere throughout “The Bride” is just fantastic from start to finish, and Natasha’s performance shows just how invested she is in this story. There are a few moments on this track that honestly I wish would speed up just a little, but it’s a solid track. Up next we have “Honeymooning alone” which starts off with some fantastic, and very mysterious guitar licks. Natasha’s performance here is so cold, in a good way, in a way that she truly sounds broken. The chorus here could use some work, but the atmosphere here is top notch. There are so many little details here that make everything sound so good, like the absolutely stunning harps that come in. And while the chorus does need work, everything else here is business as usual. Solid!
Next up is the main single from this album, the incredibly synth-poppy “Sunday Love”. After a few tracks absolutely dripping in agony, it’s actually a nice pick-me-up. “Sunday Love” though, while it’s more energetic is still somber in tone, just not as brooding and hulking. To be honest, it’s probably the most upbeat track I’ve ever heard from Bat For Lashes in general. This track here contains most of the elements of the rest of the album, breezy vocals, haunting melodies, a sense of mysticism as well as a sense of great sadness, the works. To be honest, Natasha’s voice translates very well to this synth-pop sound, the fact that she's working against this sound is interesting by itself. Overall, I really don’t have a single bad thing to say about “Sunday Love”, I think its a great single. Sadly though, we have some of the more “out-there” and repetitive moments on the album coming up. “Never Forgive The Angels” right off the bat is clearly a slow burner, with lumbering guitars and a creeping riff that sounds like something out of a really twisted experimental band. Natasha here sounds so unbelievably somber it’s scary. She literally sounds completely on her own and isolated. However, outside of that, it’s a little boring. There are interesting moments here and there, but at it’s core it really needs to pick up a little. Not just a little, a lot. While Natasha’s performance here is absolutely stunning, everything else I’m really not that into at all. The backing vocals that come in for the second half however do help quite a bit. But still, while “Never Forgive the Angels” is important to the context of the story, more than anything it kinda just put me to sleep. Than we have “Widow’s Peak”, musically possibly the strangest track here. Natasha’s performance here is actually unbelievable, and nothing short of completely entrancing. This album’s taking some weird turns instrumentally, but Natasha remains the driving force of everything here. I mean for the life of me by this point in the album I’m just so freakin confused about everything going on as far as the story goes. And instrumentally, this track is easily the messiest one here. Natasha though keeps me glued to my speakers, as she continues to drive the atmosphere on “The Bride”. On the other hand “Close Encounters” is another completely bizarre track, but one that works wonders. Instantly this track reels me in with it’s stunning string section. The vocals here are about God knows what, either aliens, or spirits, whatever it’s completely off the wall but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t completely on board with this track. “Close Encounters” has some of the most stunning performances of this entire album, as Natasha works closely with the string section to produce an absolutely chilling performance. Sure, the storyline is a bit hard to follow, but that happens, it’s still freakin’ cool.
“Lands End” in the last final third of the album actually sounds like a huge throwback for Bat For Lashes, as Natasha returns to her much more folky roots. The string section playing behind her piles on the atmosphere, while the folky guitar plucks make this track overwhelmingly beautiful. What makes “Lands End” such a solid track here, is balance. Here, Natasha sticks just as much to the narrative of the story, while remaining musically just as interesting. “If I Knew” is up next, and to be honest it’s kind’ve middle of the road. Obviously Natasha’s vocals and the atmosphere are still absolutely gorgeous. But tracks like this one as well as others really make me wish this album had just a little more bite to it. Eventually the instrumentals pick up a bit which makes up for lost time. And it’s a real shame too, because this might just be Natasha’s most heartfelt performance on the entire album. Like I said though, if this album just had a tiny more bite to it, it would be near perfect. Take for example “I Will Love Again”. Right away this track completely has me hooked. The distant, pulsating synths and strong bass lines completely engulf Natasha, leading to one of the most looming tracks here. However, Natasha’s performance is hopeful and empowering, especially for her Bride character. Natasha sounds so confident, as a glimmer of hope is heard in the music completely surrounding her, a very fitting mood for this point in the album. Lyrically there’s nothing too jaw dropping going on here, but everything else fits perfectly. The instrumentals are stunning, and the dual vocals are heartwarming and perfectly placed. Which leads us to the album’s outro, “In Your Bed”. Honestly, at this point there’s not much to report. Natasha’s performance is heartfelt, with some oddly lively keyboards. “In Your Bed” is nothing too extravagant, but it’s a solid outro. It’s slow, powerful, and it shows just a little more hope for our Bride character. Solid stuff Natasha.
Rating : 7.8/10
Give A Listen To: "Sunday Love" "Joe's Dream", "Close Encounters", "I Will Love Again"
Give A Listen To: "Sunday Love" "Joe's Dream", "Close Encounters", "I Will Love Again"
Overall Thoughts: Overall "The Bride" is just another very solid work from Ms. Natasha Khan, aka Bat For Lashes. Lyrically I'm more engaged in this than her last album, "The Haunted Man". Concept albums are hard to pull off for the most part, and while this starts off very strong it does get a little convoluted by the end. It's super weird at times, but it absolutely keeps you engaged. As far as the instrumentals go, this is some of the synthiest material Natasha's ever released. Honestly that's going to piss a lot of people off, especially since she got her start in the music world as more of a folky artist. But her voice translates well to this sound change to be honest. Here and there your going to find a few filler tracks, but for the most part Natasha's performances are nothing short of incredible. But there's definitely some weird moments on here, not to mention the few folky moments we do get here are kind've boring. Natasha though saves this album from being completely boring, immersing herself completely in the story and giving us some of her most passionate performances.
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