1) Glass; 2) Sleep Alone; 3) Moon and Moon; 4) Daniel; 5) Peace of Mind; 6) Siren Song; 7) Pearl's Dream; 8) Good Love; 9) Two Planets; 10) Travelling Woman; 11) The Big Sleep
Taking the right lessons away from the debut, this is where Khan establishes what Bat for Lashes stands for.
Key tracks: "Glass", "Daniel", "Pearl's Dream"
I spoke in my review for Fur and Gold how that album has lost its shimmer as years have gone by, but on the other hand Two Suns has has only begun to shine brighter with time. Natasha Khan's sophomore album as Bat for Lashes is exactly how you should follow up a debut with potential like Fur and Gold, by taking those unique elements that did work the first time around and fearlessly double down on them by expanding and refining. The results speak for themselves: Two Suns has become synonymous with Bat for Lashes and still remains as the number one thing that comes to my mind when I hear Khan's name.
What sets Two Suns apart from its predecessor - and most of the other Bat for Lashes albums in general - is its go-big-or-go-home attitude. There was a lot going on in the background during the recording process and Khan, always fond of expressing herself theatrically, imbibed on it: a relationship started and ended during the writing process which became the album's cornerstone inspiration, she followed her new love to New York where the album was largely recorded, and during her adventures there she devised an alter ego named Pearl who she dressed up as during her tenure in the States and who crops up in a handful of songs. Those big notions and grand gestures in turn influenced the music to grow in a similar fashion, and so Two Suns makes a clear departure from the debut’s skeletal bedroom gloom by presenting itself more vividly. "Glass", the opener, starts with a quiet hymnal which could easily have been at home within the debut but it soon breaks into a storm of layered percussion and bellowing vocals, Khan stretching her wings as she breaks away from the chrysalis of the debut into the new, multi-layered world. Where debut avoided dramatic musical gestures, Two Suns revels in them.
Khan and her musical language nestle into that perfectly. Two Suns isn’t about towering bombast or epic measures, but Khan is painting her visions with a fuller palette which makes the songs reach higher. She still finds solace in minimal soundscapes as and when seen fit - the beautiful piano ballad "Moon and Moon", the askew gospel of "Peace of Mind", the haunting Scott Walker-backed closing lullaby "The Big Sleep" - but she's juxtaposing them by adopting new rulesets for the other songs, the most important of which is really leaning into that knack for a spellbinding hook she's got. She's writing something close to pop songs now and she's perfect at balancing that more direct approach with a more fleshed-out production that emphasises her signature traits. The jaunty and twangy "Sleep Alone", anthemic "Pearl's Dream" and percussion rave of "Two Planets" are Khan's versions of widescreen pop songs and they're sublime, clearly from the same dreamland the debut conjured up but more vivid and commanding. None moreso than the lead single "Daniel". Khan has always loved the 1980s and that influence will crop up throughout her back catalogue in a myriad of ways; "Daniel" is her take on the dramatic synth pop songs littered throughout that decade which rushed through their showstopper choruses with near-anxious urgency. She's done many songs more intricate and more specifically characteristic to her than the tribute flair of "Daniel", but she's never done anything as instantly gripping and lastingly striking. "Daniel" stands out as Khan's signature song for a reason, a once-in-a-career big hit (from an artistic perspective, though to a lesser extent commercially too) single that stands timelessly within her own ouevre despite its clear influences.
I make a number of comparisons between the debut and Two Suns because to me they are clearly linked and in particular how the latter feels like wish fulfillment based on the former, as if Khan and I had shared the mild criticisms I had of that record and she went forward exactly how I wanted her to go for the follow-up. "Horse & I" and "What's a Girl to Do?" were such massive standouts on the debut because they were so much livelier than anything else on that album and Two Suns takes their wider arrangements as the blueprint for an entire album. Even the subtler moments feel more developed than most of the debut, "Moon and Moon" and the achingly solemn "Travelling Woman" in particular sounding all the more vulnerable and longing because of how they contrast with their immediate neighbours. Two Suns is an obvious case of an artist understanding the breadth of their talent and making it their goal to bring that artistic growth to life in full bloom, confidently and fearlessly. The whole album feels like it has a point to prove about its importance - from the attention-demanding arrangements to the inter-referential lyrics that give the album an air of a pseudo-concept record - which Khan and her team took great effort to make sure they can back that point up. In doing so, Two Suns established itself as the center of Khan's galaxy; an excellent record highlighting every reason why one should fall in love with Bat for Lashes.
Rating: 8/10
Physical corner: A standard jewel case with a fairly minimal and short booklet with no lyrics apart from the verse from Song of Solomon (quoted in "Glass" and referenced later in "Two Planets"). It's not particularly interesting, though if you want concrete proof of the wider arrangements on this album compared to the debut, the size of the track-by-track credits section makes it obvious.
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