Bat For Lashes - The Bride
9/10
Natasha Khan has always presented her music with a cornucopia of visual ideas that play a vital role in releasing and replicating the ideas from within her imagination. Now, with her fourth album, The Bride, we have a narrative arc providing both storyboard and soundtrack to a whole feature film simply demanding to be made. Jilted brides have always fascinated in fiction – from Miss Haversham in Great Expectations to Beatrix Kiddo in Kill Bill, but this tale concerns a bride-to-be whose groom is killed en route to the church. As love turns to tragedy, our heroine takes off on a road trip on which to grieve, seek solace, and find peace. As you would expect from Khan, The Bride brims with atmosphere. Sensitive lyrics and a balance of light and shade jostle as successive melodies play and intertwine. But what makes The Bride stand out over previous albums is just how spellbindingly beautiful it is, from the very first Omnichord bars of I Do. It draws you in and simply refuses to let go until the final lilting moments of Clouds. This is Bat for Lashes’ most mature album yet. I cannot wait for the movie.
9/10
