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Two Suns
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 32 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 34 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Astralwerks
Release Date: 07 April 2009
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Rock, Indie
Summary
The second album for the singer was produced by David Kosten and features guest appearances by Yeasayer and Scott Walker.
Also By This Artist: Fur & Gold
Also On The Web: Official Artist Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Slant Magazine
Dark, but never needlessly so, Two Suns offers a rich, distinct world of subterranean lullabies, spacey timbres, and ghostly beauty.
Read Full Review >Sputnikmusic
Two Suns then is everything it could have been--a worthy follow up to Bat For Lashes’ Mercury nominated Fur & Gold... and so much more. Here and now, take a trip, you just may come out enchanted.
Read Full Review >Pitchfork
A significant step forward from her debut, Two Suns is home to some of the year's most thrilling music so far.
Read Full Review >Prefix Magazine
It’s the ultimate inner battle of good and evil, one that even the best of us wrestle with when making ourselves vulnerable to the entanglements and snares of love, and one that Khan has found her most confident and enthralling voice in yet.
Read Full Review >Paste Magazine
An easy (if slightly front-loaded) listen that Khan performs effortlessly.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club)
Khan’s sublime voice easily distracts from any lyrical ponderousness, and it lends even lines about “diamonds burning through rainbows” a dreamy sort of sense.
Read Full Review >Urb
Two Suns doesn’t have to parade itself around as a concept album to prove that music has always been, and always should be, about telling a story, as Khan does here.
Read Full Review >Drowned In Sound
This record is one made with the artist’s full investment, every ounce of heart and soul poured into it visible for all to see.
Read Full Review >musicOMH.com
Two Suns is a dense, intricate album that features at least six brilliant songs, two of which are pure pop gems.
Read Full Review >Observer Music Monthly
Khan is a fantastic package and a good, if not as maverick as some believe, songwriter. In a year when no one wants to sing about making a cup of tea, she's just the ticket.
Read Full Review >New Musical Express (NME)
Two Suns is epic in scope and ambition and requires a similarly epic patience to unravel its charms.
Read Full Review >Spin
Two Suns is the rare concept album that's better for the bedroom than for bong hits.
Read Full Review >Lost At Sea
The slightly pretentious concept, though, is balanced by the equally lavish music and specifically Khan's voice.
Read Full Review >Dot Music
While her second album is frequently more drama than action, over the long haul, the magical world she creates is one worth being immersed it.
Read Full Review >Delusions of Adequacy
Another unique and compelling album of mystical indie-rock with shimmering vocals, proving she not only has a voice to be reckoned with, but is a voice to be reckoned with.
Read Full Review >Alternative Press
Psychedelic experimentalists Yeasayer add more beats than last time, but nothing that overpowers Khan's out-there mindset, stunning vocals and obvious talents. [May 2009, p.114]
Q Magazine
Two Suns is an intoxicating, addictive album, a step on from "Fur And Gold" a leap into a galaxy of its very own. [May 2009, p.118]
Under The Radar
Two Suns is another pitch-black dream world, with Khan's production touches helping paint her enchanting pictures. Color me enchanted. [Spring 2009, p.64]
cokemachineglow
Anyways, ignore the write-ups (uh, except this one), which won’t be able to help quoting all the spiritual mumbo jumbo about dualism, and enjoy what seems, to me, unstated genre practice at play on a very large stage.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly
Suns is slightly less immediate, but the Brit's floaty vocals and pagan-princess themes still bewitch.
Read Full Review >The Phoenix
Two Suns rarely ventures into anything truly experimental; when it does, as in the maelstromic beat of 'Siren Song' or the Scott Walker cameo in album closer 'The Big Sleep,' it makes you curious as to what Khan could deliver if she weren't so committed to her "studenty" (in the UK sense) affectations.
Read Full Review >All Music Guide
Two Suns is nearly as graceful and poetic as Bat for Lashes' best work; it's just that the album's massive concepts and sounds require a little more time and patience to unravel to get to the songs' hearts.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone
Pounding on pianos, cranking out delicate little click-clack beats and shivering through choruses with an ultraromantic soprano, Khan proves she's a powerhouse under her billowy sleeves.
Read Full Review >Uncut
Though the production has improved, there's still a certain lyrical flimsiness and a sense that, enjoyable and stylish as Two Suns is, it's still just horsing around in the dressing-up box of '80s pop, in a way that's more Might Boosh than Kate Bush. [May 2009, p.77]
Blender
The contrast between Pearl and Natasha isn’t always crisply drawn, but a central conviction animates both.
Read Full Review >PopMatters
While the weaker songs are definitely not throwaways, they miss the mark in more than one way.
Read Full Review >Mojo
While Two Suns almost inevitably finds Natasha Khan caught between the rock of artistic muse and the hard place of major label rockability, there's still invention and charisma enough here to keep both leftfield chin-stroker and ingenue fan onside for now. [Apr 2009, p.106]
Tiny Mix Tapes
The joy of "Fur and Gold" has vanished and taken some of Khan’s potential with it. This is request for their safe return, no questions asked.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe
No question this is meant to be a haunting mood piece, and her gorgeous voice--somewhere between Björk and Tori Amos, to name the obvious referents--makes up in some part for what's lacking in dynamics and compelling hooks.
Read Full Review >MSN Consumer Guide (Robert Christgau)
She has hitched her modest talent to an art-rock wagon she won't outpace anytime soon.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 34 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Chris J gave it a10:
Probably the most personal album I've ever heard. It almost feels, at times, as if we're intruding on her private thoughts. Utterly wonderful.
Andy K gave it a7:
Great!
Eric C gave it a5:
It's incredibly dissapointing to wade through all that intriguingly dark and brooding atmosphere and find nothing there. The songs feel empty. She was aiming for some kind of haunting 80s-esque effect but forgot to write engaging music. Sure, it's an okay album to chill out to. But she is way too talented to settle for a chill out record. This is the result of worrying more about the concept of you music than the music itself.
Goose M gave it a9:
This album is amazing. Easily one of the best CD's of the year. It sounds a bit like Bjork, Kate Bush and Tori Amos all in one. That's not to say that it doesn't sound like her at the same time. It's the most intriguing music I've heard this year. You have to listen to this. Natasha Khan makes beautiful music. You're missing out if you don't hear this.
Grant L gave it a9:
Bought the first after hearing this one but think it is the better of the two. only real let down is siren song in my opinion.
Casey R. gave it a9:
Listening to this record is like listening to a who's who of female alternative rock legends such as Kate Bush/Tori Amos, Goldfrapp, Bjork, PJ Harvey, Cat Power, Beth Gibbons, Beth Orton, Feist and Liz Frazier all thrown into this eclectic mix of creativity. It should be a shoe in to win this years Mercury Prize.
Graham B gave it a9:
Hauntingly beautiful and dark yet fragile.... Natasha Khan is going places. Buy this album now!
