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.
The Bride might not be as accessible as its predecessors, yet after time invested it will have you curiously considering ceremony, matrimony, and individuality.
There is a single-minded intensity to the writing and the production which makes The Bride a very strong proposition indeed.
Khan’s fourth album is a mature piece of work, but doesn’t forsake her infectious, wide-eyed enthusiasm for the possibilities of her art.
‘The Bride’ is a stellar soundtrack to the complexities of womanhood within the institution of marriage, a triumph of raw intensity.
Although The Bride is relatively more stripped down than what we’ve come to expect from Bat for Lashes, Khan has no trouble filling the space with her signature lofty soprano, which does all the dramatic work the storyline needs to feel real.
The peek of her artistry is her ability to bring home existential gravitas through impassioned lift in her register. Her ways of projecting emotion have always been a distinguishing characteristic.
While it all may seem rather bleak, rays of light eventually cut through the gloom. The Bride’s captivating story and thoughtful arrangements prove addictive, as Khan’s impressive songwriting rewards multiple listens, another step toward the vaunted pantheon of British art rock.
Her music earns frequent comparisons to Kate Bush—how could it not, with her soprano voice and theatrical flair?—but Natasha Khan’s fourth album as Bat For Lashes, The Bride, is more reminiscent of Tori Amos.
That The Bride works best as a song cycle rather than a collection of pop hooks is a testament to its cohesion and intrinsic intertexuality, but what's missing here is Khan's knack for grafting avant-art-rock concepts onto mainstream forms.
On her latest, the concept album The Bride, she fully embraces darkness to beautiful and depressing effects.
While Khan used restraint eloquently on The Haunted Man, The Bride is beautifully crafted, but not always thrilling.
While pop music is no stranger to personas and albums about ending relationships, Khan’s key changes in narration and her intentions for the music’s use place the album in largely untraversed territories.
Some may write it off as one-paced (and they’d have a point), but there are moments of heartache and beauty here that will be hard to touch in 2016.
Bat For Lashes has contributed an imaginative installment to our love affair with marriage, in all its charms and discontents.
At times perhaps overly conceptual ... The Bride also lacks more standout cuts to truly make it soar. There’s nevertheless plenty to appreciate here; just don’t expect much in the way of wedding playlist material.
No one’s denying she’s a good singer, technically speaking; I’m simply denying that these are good songs.
I love a good concept album, especially when it includes a throwback 80’s sound like the beautiful The Bride by Bat For Lashes. A bride left at the alter not knowing that her soon to be husband has died in a car accident on his way to the wedding is as dramatic as it gets, spawning a variety of tracks that express the emotional rollercoaster of anger, denial, longing for and grief. The album started a strong sound in throwback synths that carries over to her next record Lost Girls ... read more
It's strange to say that a record's biggest downfall is that its concept is perfectly executed, but it really is the problem. She's so laser-focused on the theme that the music suffers from lacking the diversity and richness of her previous works. It's hard to pull singular tracks away from the cohesion as well. Widow's Peak gives me chills with how eerie she recites her words though. As you will learn by track two, this is a very sad album. Good record, albeit slow, but little replay value.
I Do - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Joe's Dream - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️✨️
In God's House - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️
Honeymooning Alone - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️
Sunday Love - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️
Never Forgive the Angels - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️
Close Encounters - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️
Widow's Peak - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Land's End - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
If I Knew - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I Will Love ... read more
I LOVED it, everything is very closed. Full of pure emotion, where Natasha cries over a sad story where the character in the album went through many traumatic events
the whole idea of the Bride within the album is well presented within the work itself, and she focuses on it all very well, leaving nothing to be desired
1 | I Do 2:16 | 81 |
2 | Joe's Dream 5:25 | 100 |
3 | In God's House 3:31 | 95 |
4 | Honeymooning Alone 3:30 | 87 |
5 | Sunday Love 4:13 | 97 |
6 | Never Forgive the Angels 4:24 | 80 |
7 | Close Encounters 4:09 | 90 |
8 | Widow's Peak 3:46 | 78 |
9 | Land's End 3:09 | 72 |
10 | If I Knew 4:16 | 74 |
11 | I Will Love Again 5:14 | 85 |
12 | In Your Bed 3:31 | 73 |
13 | Clouds 5:23 | 95 |
#5 | / | Fopp |
#14 | / | No Ripcord |
#14 | / | Under the Radar |
#16 | / | Albumism |
#16 | / | God Is In The TV |
#24 | / | Loud and Quiet |
#27 | / | Piccadilly Records |
#32 | / | Q Magazine |
#37 | / | The Times / The Sunday Times |
#46 | / | SPIN |