| Bat for Lashes — The Bride (1 July 2016) |
Bat for Lashes — The Bride (1 July 2016) 
•→ Další krok směrem k vychvalovanému panteonu britského art rocku. “In Your Bed” se vyznačuje subtilními klavírními arpeggiaty a ty nejvíce ovlivňují melodie alba. Je zajímavé, že pro album, ve kterém tak velmi závisí na jeho pečlivé posloupnosti příběhu, Khan nabízí dva potenciální zakončení. V digitální verzi album končí písní “Clouds”, nabízející realističtější fashion. Tyto dvě písně pracují dobře společně a také odděleně od sebe, jejich pronikavá krása hluboce rezonuje se smíšenými emocemi příběhu. Také z tohoto poznatku vyplývá, že pro Natašu Khan nic není cizí v oblasti konceptuálních projektů. Acclaimed British/Pakastani singer/songwriter with influences that range from Steve Reich to Siouxsie Sioux. 
Birthname: Natasha Khan
Nationality: British
Born: October 25 1979
Location: Brighton, England, Great Britain
Instruments: Vocals, piano, bass, guitar, synthesiser, autoharp, percussion, xylophone
Album release: 1 July 2016
Record Label: Parlophone / PLG UK Frontline
Duration: 52:49
Tracks:
01 I Do 2:17
02 Joe’s Dream 5:25
03 In God’s House 3:32
04 Honeymooning Alone 3:31
05 Sunday Love 4:13
06 Never Forgive the Angels 4:25
07 Close Encounters 4:10
08 Widow’s Peak 3:47
09 Land’s End 3:10
10 If I Knew 4:17
11 I Will Love Again 5:14
12 In Your Bed 3:35
13 Clouds 5:23
Written by:
•→ Natasha Khan 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12
•→ Dan Carey / Natasha Khan 5
•→ Simone Felice / Natasha Khan 8
•→ Natasha Khan / Lou Rogai 11
Credits:
•→ David Baron Additional Production, Bass, Engineer, Fender Rhodes, Mixing, Programming, Sound Effects, String Arrangements, Synthesizer
•→ Sandy Bell Vocals (Background)
•→ Topanga Canyon Engineer
•→ Dan Carey Composer, Engineer, Programming, Synthesizer
•→ Ben Christophers Bass, Engineer, Guitar, Piano, Sound Effects, Vocals
•→ Tony Cousins Mastering
•→ Simone Felice Additional Production, Composer, Drums, Engineer
•→ Matt Hales Producer
•→ Pete Hanlon Engineer
•→ Natasha Khan Celeste, Clapping, Composer, Drum Machine, Drum Programming, Drums, Fender Rhodes, Guitar, Guitar (Electric), Harp, Keyboards, Mandolin, Omnichord, Organ, Piano, Producer, Synthesizer, Synthesizer Bass, Tambourine, Vibraphone, Vocals
•→ Neil Krug Photography
•→ Dawn Landes Guitar, Vocals (Background)
•→ Jacknife Lee Producer, Programming, Sampling, Synthesizer
•→ Alex Reeves Drums, Percussion, Timpani
•→ Lou Rogai Bass, Composer, Guitar, Vocals (Background)
•→ Davide Rossi String Arrangements, String Engineer, Strings
•→ Kevin Salem Guitar
•→ Leo Taylor Drums
•→ Richard Welland Design
•→ Rachael Yamagata Vocals (Background)
Product Description
•→ The Bride follows the story of a woman whose fiancé has been killed in a crash on the way to the church for their wedding. The Bride flees the scene to take the honeymoon trip alone, resulting in a dark meditation on love, loss, grief, and celebration. Written as the soundtrack for a feature length film in mind, The Bride is Khan’s most ambitious work to date, sonically and visually incorporating an entire world inhabited by The Bride, along with the characters and places she encounters on the way. The lush narrative of the artwork was conceived as a visual partnership between Natasha and Neil Krug, The Bride's universe being the product of two years of collaboration and experimentation. The Bride was conceived of and produced by Natasha Khan alongside a host of long–time collaborators and friends including Simone Felice, Dan Carey, Head and Ben Christophers. Inspired by a short film Khan wrote and directed entitled ‘I Do’, making its debut at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival in NYC in April, The Bride was created over the course of 18 months across London, Los Angeles, and Brighton. Finally last Autumn, Natasha headed to the mountains of Woodstock, NY, where she built a studio into the ground floor of a big old house and lived there for two months, finishing the record with co–producer Simone Felice (Lumineers, Felice Bros). The album was mixed by Head in London and mastered at Metropolis Studios.
Review
By Anna Alger, Published Jun 29, 2016; Score: 9
•→ Employing a multifaceted approach to her fourth album as Bat for Lashes, Natasha Khan draws from her studies of film, visual art and fashion design to create a tangible world on The Bride.
Khan takes listeners on the journey of titular character, The Bride, whose fiancé, Joe, dies on the way to their wedding. The gentle naïveté of “I Do,” all auto harp and whimsy, flows into the deep romance of “Joe’s Dream,” as Khan’s moving vocals soar and whisper with emotion.
•→ One of Khan’s goals with The Bride was to show the necessity of being able to love and support oneself, as opposed to completely relying on another person. The character of The Bride slowly gains confidence as she navigates heartbreak, as heard in the stomping drums of “In God’s House.”
•→ They provide a sharp contrast to bouncing synths reminiscent of Kate Bush, as Khan’s lilting voice repeats, “Fire!”
•→ “Honeymooning Alone” is wounded yet defiant, while “Sunday Love” is a shattered pop song in the vein of previous hit “Daniel.” Throughout the album, Khan utilizes found sounds gorgeously: thunderclouds rolling in, rain pattering amongst the sounds of chimes and disembodied voices all add crucial atmosphere. Cinematic and Lynchian, “Widow’s Peak” captures The Bride’s fear perfectly.
•→ The Bride marries Natasha Khan’s passion for storytelling with her own realizations about love, strength and relationships. “Often in hindsight, when I look back on an album,” she recently told The Line Of Best Fit, “it’s the story of my life. The story of something that happened or it’s shedding light on something I needed to understand better.” The Bride is not only a journey for Natasha and the characters she has created — as with all great albums, listeners, too, will be met with a sea of contemplation. • http://exclaim.ca/
AllMusic Review by Heather Phares; Score: ***½
•→ Exploring femininity in all its personas is a major part of Bat for Lashes’ music, and never more so than on The Bride. On Natasha Khan’s fourth album, the titular character undergoes a more dramatic transformation than most brides do at their weddings: After her fiance is killed in a car accident en route to the wedding, she flees the church and goes on her honeymoon alone. It’s a more single–minded concept than some of Bat for Lashes’ other albums, and since Khan’s music is as theatrical as it is vulnerable, it should be a perfect fit. However, The Bride’s journey through romance, horror, grief, and healing is more subdued than might be expected. The album begins vividly: Bedecked in fluttering harps and some of Khan’s loveliest vocals yet, “I Do” has all the showy nuptial romance of a petal–strewn aisle. It’s so incredibly sweet that it feels like it’s tempting fate, offering the perfect setup for the brewing terror on “In God’s House,” as well as the slow–building drama of “Joe’s Dream” and the hallucinatory panic of “Honeymooning Alone,” both of which give the death–obsessed pop of the ‘50s and ‘60s a highbrow update.
♠ Depending on listeners’ patience, however, The Bride’s slower second half may be hypnotic or dreary. To trace the arc from mourning to recovery, Khan relies on ballads that range from bitter (“Never Forgive the Angels”) to empowering (“I Will Love Again,” which sounds more like the kind of fare Adele or Christina Aguilera would sing). And though she gives the bride a surprisingly happy ending with “In Your Bed” — which finds the character wanting to stay in her lover’s arms rather than go out on the town — it feels like her story is missing several chapters. Similarly, The Bride often feels like a missed opportunity to revisit the drama Bat for Lashes delivered so ably on Two Suns. Khan rectifies this somewhat on more mystical songs like the witchy invocation of “Widow’s Peak” and “Close Encounters,” an eldritch lovers’ meeting that recalls Wuthering Heights (both the book and the Kate Bush song). Still, it’s hard not to want Bat for Lashes to go further down this path; while Khan used restraint eloquently on The Haunted Man, The Bride is beautifully crafted, but not always thrilling. •→ http://www.allmusic.com/
Also:
BY EDWARD DUNBAR ON JUNE 29, 2016, 6:01 AM / SCORE: B
•→ http://consequenceofsound.net/2016/06/album-review-bat-for-lashes-the-bride/
Website: http://www.batforlashes.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/batforlashes
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/batforlashes
© Photo credit: Moses Namkung
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| Bat for Lashes — The Bride (1 July 2016) |
Nationality: British
Born: October 25 1979
Location: Brighton, England, Great Britain
Instruments: Vocals, piano, bass, guitar, synthesiser, autoharp, percussion, xylophone
Album release: 1 July 2016
Record Label: Parlophone / PLG UK Frontline
Duration: 52:49
Tracks:
01 I Do 2:17
02 Joe’s Dream 5:25
03 In God’s House 3:32
04 Honeymooning Alone 3:31
05 Sunday Love 4:13
06 Never Forgive the Angels 4:25
07 Close Encounters 4:10
08 Widow’s Peak 3:47
09 Land’s End 3:10
10 If I Knew 4:17
11 I Will Love Again 5:14
12 In Your Bed 3:35
13 Clouds 5:23
Written by:
•→ Natasha Khan 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12
•→ Dan Carey / Natasha Khan 5
•→ Simone Felice / Natasha Khan 8
•→ Natasha Khan / Lou Rogai 11
•→ David Baron Additional Production, Bass, Engineer, Fender Rhodes, Mixing, Programming, Sound Effects, String Arrangements, Synthesizer
•→ Sandy Bell Vocals (Background)
•→ Topanga Canyon Engineer
•→ Dan Carey Composer, Engineer, Programming, Synthesizer
•→ Ben Christophers Bass, Engineer, Guitar, Piano, Sound Effects, Vocals
•→ Tony Cousins Mastering
•→ Simone Felice Additional Production, Composer, Drums, Engineer
•→ Matt Hales Producer
•→ Pete Hanlon Engineer
•→ Natasha Khan Celeste, Clapping, Composer, Drum Machine, Drum Programming, Drums, Fender Rhodes, Guitar, Guitar (Electric), Harp, Keyboards, Mandolin, Omnichord, Organ, Piano, Producer, Synthesizer, Synthesizer Bass, Tambourine, Vibraphone, Vocals
•→ Neil Krug Photography
•→ Dawn Landes Guitar, Vocals (Background)
•→ Jacknife Lee Producer, Programming, Sampling, Synthesizer
•→ Alex Reeves Drums, Percussion, Timpani
•→ Lou Rogai Bass, Composer, Guitar, Vocals (Background)
•→ Davide Rossi String Arrangements, String Engineer, Strings
•→ Kevin Salem Guitar
•→ Leo Taylor Drums
•→ Richard Welland Design
•→ Rachael Yamagata Vocals (Background)
•→ The Bride follows the story of a woman whose fiancé has been killed in a crash on the way to the church for their wedding. The Bride flees the scene to take the honeymoon trip alone, resulting in a dark meditation on love, loss, grief, and celebration. Written as the soundtrack for a feature length film in mind, The Bride is Khan’s most ambitious work to date, sonically and visually incorporating an entire world inhabited by The Bride, along with the characters and places she encounters on the way. The lush narrative of the artwork was conceived as a visual partnership between Natasha and Neil Krug, The Bride's universe being the product of two years of collaboration and experimentation. The Bride was conceived of and produced by Natasha Khan alongside a host of long–time collaborators and friends including Simone Felice, Dan Carey, Head and Ben Christophers. Inspired by a short film Khan wrote and directed entitled ‘I Do’, making its debut at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival in NYC in April, The Bride was created over the course of 18 months across London, Los Angeles, and Brighton. Finally last Autumn, Natasha headed to the mountains of Woodstock, NY, where she built a studio into the ground floor of a big old house and lived there for two months, finishing the record with co–producer Simone Felice (Lumineers, Felice Bros). The album was mixed by Head in London and mastered at Metropolis Studios.
By Anna Alger, Published Jun 29, 2016; Score: 9
•→ Employing a multifaceted approach to her fourth album as Bat for Lashes, Natasha Khan draws from her studies of film, visual art and fashion design to create a tangible world on The Bride.
Khan takes listeners on the journey of titular character, The Bride, whose fiancé, Joe, dies on the way to their wedding. The gentle naïveté of “I Do,” all auto harp and whimsy, flows into the deep romance of “Joe’s Dream,” as Khan’s moving vocals soar and whisper with emotion.
•→ One of Khan’s goals with The Bride was to show the necessity of being able to love and support oneself, as opposed to completely relying on another person. The character of The Bride slowly gains confidence as she navigates heartbreak, as heard in the stomping drums of “In God’s House.”
•→ They provide a sharp contrast to bouncing synths reminiscent of Kate Bush, as Khan’s lilting voice repeats, “Fire!”
•→ “Honeymooning Alone” is wounded yet defiant, while “Sunday Love” is a shattered pop song in the vein of previous hit “Daniel.” Throughout the album, Khan utilizes found sounds gorgeously: thunderclouds rolling in, rain pattering amongst the sounds of chimes and disembodied voices all add crucial atmosphere. Cinematic and Lynchian, “Widow’s Peak” captures The Bride’s fear perfectly.
•→ The Bride marries Natasha Khan’s passion for storytelling with her own realizations about love, strength and relationships. “Often in hindsight, when I look back on an album,” she recently told The Line Of Best Fit, “it’s the story of my life. The story of something that happened or it’s shedding light on something I needed to understand better.” The Bride is not only a journey for Natasha and the characters she has created — as with all great albums, listeners, too, will be met with a sea of contemplation. • http://exclaim.ca/
AllMusic Review by Heather Phares; Score: ***½
•→ Exploring femininity in all its personas is a major part of Bat for Lashes’ music, and never more so than on The Bride. On Natasha Khan’s fourth album, the titular character undergoes a more dramatic transformation than most brides do at their weddings: After her fiance is killed in a car accident en route to the wedding, she flees the church and goes on her honeymoon alone. It’s a more single–minded concept than some of Bat for Lashes’ other albums, and since Khan’s music is as theatrical as it is vulnerable, it should be a perfect fit. However, The Bride’s journey through romance, horror, grief, and healing is more subdued than might be expected. The album begins vividly: Bedecked in fluttering harps and some of Khan’s loveliest vocals yet, “I Do” has all the showy nuptial romance of a petal–strewn aisle. It’s so incredibly sweet that it feels like it’s tempting fate, offering the perfect setup for the brewing terror on “In God’s House,” as well as the slow–building drama of “Joe’s Dream” and the hallucinatory panic of “Honeymooning Alone,” both of which give the death–obsessed pop of the ‘50s and ‘60s a highbrow update.
♠ Depending on listeners’ patience, however, The Bride’s slower second half may be hypnotic or dreary. To trace the arc from mourning to recovery, Khan relies on ballads that range from bitter (“Never Forgive the Angels”) to empowering (“I Will Love Again,” which sounds more like the kind of fare Adele or Christina Aguilera would sing). And though she gives the bride a surprisingly happy ending with “In Your Bed” — which finds the character wanting to stay in her lover’s arms rather than go out on the town — it feels like her story is missing several chapters. Similarly, The Bride often feels like a missed opportunity to revisit the drama Bat for Lashes delivered so ably on Two Suns. Khan rectifies this somewhat on more mystical songs like the witchy invocation of “Widow’s Peak” and “Close Encounters,” an eldritch lovers’ meeting that recalls Wuthering Heights (both the book and the Kate Bush song). Still, it’s hard not to want Bat for Lashes to go further down this path; while Khan used restraint eloquently on The Haunted Man, The Bride is beautifully crafted, but not always thrilling. •→ http://www.allmusic.com/
Also:
BY EDWARD DUNBAR ON JUNE 29, 2016, 6:01 AM / SCORE: B
•→ http://consequenceofsound.net/2016/06/album-review-bat-for-lashes-the-bride/
Website: http://www.batforlashes.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/batforlashes
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/batforlashes
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