Now Playing: Bat For Lashes – ‘Marilyn’
Bat For Lashes - Marilyn
Now Playing – every week, a roundtable of our writers will give their views on one of the recently-released new tracks. It’s as simple as that! If you want to tell us what you think of the song, feel free to leave a comment below.
Track: ‘Marilyn’ by Bat For Lashes
Average Grade: 4.7
Tom: After ‘Daniel’ and ‘Laura’, Bat for Lashes moves on to ‘Marilyn’, but this time it’s someone we all know. There has to be a compelling reason to write another song about Marilyn, and having something new to say is surely crucial. However, although this song sounds pleasant in an ’80s electro-pop way, pretty is not good enough. Lyrics such as “Holding you I’m touching a star” are far from illuminating and the result is banal where it needs to be extraordinary. 4/10
Richard: I’m not sure how Natasha Khan has managed this, but for me Bat for Lashes’ music has always been interesting but at the same time rather dull. ‘Marilyn’ is plucked from the tree marked ‘ethereal’, and really as a standalone track, it doesn’t fair too well. I suppose an apt word to use would be ‘pedestrian’. 5/10
Stef: I’d rather talk about the subject of the song (Monroe) than about the song itself. There are so many sounds in the song that seemingly just pop up, but instead of forming a whole it has something disrupting to me. I guess enough said that when that 2:30 break came for the first time, I was actually kind of hoping it was done. 2/10
Kenny: Someone I’ve really only been aware of in name only up till now. Lightweight beats overlaid with nicely sung vocals that get a wee bit strident in the choruses, pleasant enough but I wouldn’t buy it so 5/10
Craig: There is a lot going on in this song, subtly. Though the various instruments play simple lines their layering creates a depth that is quite haunting; granted, this is a big, echoic song that creates a definite mood. However, a lot of bands sound like this right now (I’m looking at you, Zola Jesus) and it’s becoming a bit of an ’80s goth-informed wash. 5/10
Anna: Really enjoyed the percussion, synths and Khan’s hypnotising voice all coming together. Would love to listen to it within the upcoming album, as I feel it’s an album song rather than a single with 100% individual gravity. Ah well, it’s almost October, right? (brrr) 7/10
