Both Things at Once

Someone once described Natasha Khan—who records as Bat for Lashes—as possibly the greatest musical gift of the twenty-first century, and I’m not in a position to disagree. Her song Daniel hit me the way very few songs actually hit: something arrived, rearranged things, and left a different arrangement behind. Her music occupies this strange double register where you can have genuinely good sex to it and simultaneously spiral into some very dark places, and both responses feel entirely correct. Few artists can pull that off. Most pick a mood and stay in it.

Two Suns is already one of my favorite albums of the year. The special edition comes with a documentary called The Two + Two—a look behind the recording sessions, the photo shoots, and something approaching the private Natasha Khan. The standard edition didn’t need improvement; the extra material just extends the time I get to spend inside it, which is all I want from a reissue.

She’s playing Berlin toward the end of October—Postbahnhof—and in the meantime I’ve been listening to Daniel at least five times a day, which is the correct dosage. Buy both albums. Listen until something inadvisable suggests itself. Then go to Mauerpark and do it there. Less a recommendation than a standing order.