Bat For Lashes "Two Suns" analysis

This album cover belongs to solo artist Bat For Lashes (also known as Natasha Khan) and is entitled “Two Suns”. The cover features Natasha herself and can clearly be identified as a fantasy themed piece of artwork containing lots of occult symbolism, this is something that is immediately associated with our chosen band and part of the reason this cover caught my eye.

   The cover shows Natasha Khan holding two planets in a very bizarre setting. She is surrounded by candles and trees can be seen in the background. The use of body paint on Natasha’s skin mirrors what looks like a night sky full of stars, forming along with the planets a space theme. This could reflect the mind of Natasha.

  The album cover hides a lot of hidden meaning not only about the music within the album but also the personality of the singer. The album title ‘Two Suns’ is reflected a lot in the artwork, the album explores the dichotomy of Natasha herself into two very different personalities. This album introduces “Pearl” Natasha Khan’s alter ego. This is reflected into the album artwork with the use of two planets and into the album title of “Two Suns”. If you were too split the artwork in half, one side is seen to be more busy than the other with the planet on that side held slightly lower than the other. An idea that could be suggested here is that one side of her mind is more busy and full of energy and happy thoughts (which is suggested through the candles and the bright lights which fill that planet) than the other, this could be the side of her personality that she takes on stage with her and uses when performing for e.g. her alter ego. The reason for the planet being held lower down could be due to the lack of bad thoughts and stress. However, the lack of busy objects seen on the empty side could connote the free spirit of her alter ego, and the height of the planet expressing the lack of pressure and stress. Natasha is known to be a very mystical and desert-born character. The overall image of the front cover suggests and supports this.
   An obvious theme to this side of the album cover is 'fantasy'. This can be identified through the colour scheme and un-realistic objects that stand within it. This is a theme that Laura and I adopted for our music video, therefore we could adapt some aspects of the cover such the body paint costume prop and the candles for our cover.

The back of the album contains an image of Natasha holding a different appearance. This image is her alter ego "Pearl" who is introduced and mentioned throughout the album tracks including "Pearls Dream" and "Siren Song". Like the front she holds the planets in the same positions, except this time she is looking towards her left planet almost in hope. This could represent Pearls more destructive and self-absorbed personality, it is suggested that she holds these traits. The messy objects seen in the background support this. Her red lips confirm the idea that she is more self-absorbed than Natasha by showing that she gives a lot of thought into ther appearance, the red lips also show a more seductive side. The blonde hair, along with the red lipstick also connotes a femme fatale image, femme fatales are mostly recognised to have the same traits that pearl holds.

   A white gleaming halo stands above Pearls head, unlike the one that is positioned above Natasha's head which consists of joined gold stars. Each of these halo like objects seem to fit into the theme of each photo, with Natasha's halo representing the stars that will fill the sky in her almost artificial solar system. Pearls halo could represent something within her make-shift solar system or even something within her mind. 

   Overall the back cover image is very 'normal' compared to that of the front and this is highly supported within the normal setting that 'Pearl' is placed in. This suggests that maybe Natasha longs for a more 'normal' life and her famous lifestyle sometimes gets the better of her.

As a whole, the album explores many duets within the cover and the music, including two images, two personalities, two settings. It contains conflicting ideas within the involvement of an alter-ego and the two different settings. The contract between the two is very distinctive and keeps the viewer intrigued in the album. The album falls into the genre of 'Art Pop', this is supported by the appearance of the album cover and the busy art that fills both the back and front. The busy atmosphere and strong images of both girls fits in well with the up beat music associated with pop. A quote from Natasha supports the creativity and strong connection between her music and her album artwork, "It has a location full of characters and colours and landscapes, so those two things really complement each other, and they help the other one to blossom and support the other. They are like brother and sister".