I really ought to like Bat for Lashes more. I’m a fan of Cat Power and the Cocteau Twins, and I tend to think that she stands somewhere amidst them. Of course, there’s a lot of Bjork and Annie Lennox, which isn’t necessarily a strike against her, but does tend to push things in the direction of “I can see why other people like this.”
Daniel – Bat for Lashes
This song, however, has started to make me believe in the hype, at least a little bit. Two Suns has been out for a while now, but I didn’t make much effort to check it out based on past disappointments. But after hearing this track, I think I’ll have to give it a serious listen. Turns out that the crucial missing factor in the pastiche of influences I mentioned above was…Fleetwood Mac. Which is a bit of a surprise but what are you going to do, eh?
“Daniel” is everything you’d hope for in this kind of song. Ethereal, gentle, with the beauty of a fog rolling in over the hills in the steely light of dusk. It’s the sort of song that settles over you like a diaphanous veil, almost ghostly in its weightlessness.