Recorded music834 entries
Bat For Lashes - The Haunted Man
Released: 15/10/2012
Parlophone
Don’t judge a record by its cover, but is Natasha Khan’s decision to bare all for the sleeve of her third offering a sign of confidence or an indication of a more, er, naked approach to her songwriting? Maybe both. Her first new material since 2009’s Two Suns emerges from a period of intense writer’s block and proffers a more ‘stripped back’ take on her ghostly ballads.
For more information visit: http://www.batforlashes.com/ Buy: http://www.normanrecords.com/records/136280-bat-for-lashes-the-hauntedPage [1]
80 %
MusicOMH“Spine-tingling...” Ticks all the boxes, while also showing a maturity and evolution from her Mercury nominated sophomore album. There are few artists around who can match Bat For Lashes for consistency. Pressure or no pressure, she always seems to deliver...
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70 %
Drowned In Sound“This effort is laudable, but she sounds best when pushing the envelope...” An overwhelming normalcy to this record, which is quite surprising for someone who has always seemed so bracingly unconventional. While Khan’s previous work is considered pop, she kept things lively with other melodic influences...
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84%
Pitchfork“One of the year's most beguiling albums...” Sounds like effort magnificently realized. The rawness of feeling is achieved through equally raw ambition. Bat for Lashes' sophisticated blend of art-rock grandeur and synth-pop directness again carries echoes of 1980s luminaries like Kate Bush...
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60%
The Arts Desk“Enigmatic and spooky...” The ethereal-yet-assertive melodies are often better than the oblique lyrics. “Laura” has an elegantly mournful piano theme ... great sound, shame the accompanying words arrive direct from sixth-form poetry class...
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90%
The Line of Best Fit“Natasha Khan’s personal album, and she’s pretty keen for us to know it.” Stunning as subtle chords chime atmospherically behind. The instrumentation’s lusher, perhaps, the production a touch more pronounced, but the characteristic blend of synths and strings, ivory and percussion remains preserved...
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60%
The Telegraph“Quirky and interesting...” Despite occasionally drawing blood, The Haunted Man doesn’t live up to its stripped and dangerous cover, often retreating to gambol about in the backwaters of Khan’s imagination, trilling about “scaredy rabbits” and “paper ghosts”...
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75 %
BBC“Elegant, but more vulnerable...” While The Haunted Man is an impressive record, one heavy with earnestness and polished sophistication, it’s more like The Tin Man: somehow it lacks a heart...
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80 %
The Independent“Contains one of the stone-cold, stop-what-you're-doing Songs of the Year...” There's plenty more on this often-complex record. It's a skilled blend of the organic and the electronic, and if these lashes have previously fluttered – and flattered – to deceive, this is the real deal...
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80 %
Guardian“Effortless melodies that sound immediately familiar...” The dictionary definition is eccentric, which fits Khan just fine: if you encourage audiences at your gigs to howl in order to "shed their humanity"...
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60%
The Observer“This album is Khan's strongest yet...” For all its lush, arty, boho womanscapes, The Haunted Man does not, however, deal the killer blow of originality that by now Khan should have in her power...
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