There was this magazine, Rock Sound, that my dad would buy me from time to time. He never asked if I wanted it or not, but because I enjoy writing about music, he thought I could get more ideas from other people’s writings. Plus, the magazine always had a free CD sampler with new bands, and I honestly appreciated this, as way too many bands I love I discovered through said sample CDs. A few: Dillinger Escape Plan, Biffy Clyro, 65Daysofstatic, Electrelane, and Bat For Lashes.

Bat For Lashes is Natasha Khan. And She is Pearl, according to her sophomore album. Or Pearl is Natasha. It’s an intricate concept about duality that she explains much better than I could. What got me hooked was her vocals, intertwined with that expansive art pop landscape she weaves; beautiful musical tapestries with multilayered instrumentation (and significance).

I’ve got a longer, and I guess funnier, story about Bat For Lashes, but I’m on fire, a cover of Bruce Springsteen, is the track I chose today, as this reinterpretation of an 80s classic fits a mauve and purple memory I sometimes go back to.

There’s this friend that I had (have?) a crush on, I mean, decades long sorta situation, but things never seem to be ideal to move to something else. We like hanging out, go on long walks, maybe shop for useless trinkets, and drink copious amounts of coffee or tea. One fine afternoon we were just talking on the car, watching the sunset, and the topic of where we played as kids came out. No idea how we got there, that’s how you know it’s a special person, right? When you can jump around topics, weave loose thread lines, and end up somewhere unplanned.

So I mentioned playing in a sorta/kinda maze the logo of a shopping mall near my house and she mentioned she used to play there. I half joked that we probably met back then and she said maybe. I do remember one particular afternoon, when I was 9 or 10, and I was just running around this maze and a girl waved and said hi. I remember getting my face fully flushed and running away. It’s a very long shot, and surely it wasn’t her, but I thought it would’ve been a little fun story to tell.

I was a shy kid. I’m now a shy adult. I have trouble socialising and I have problem expressing my feelings, at least in a verbal way. Around the same time, I went on a holiday with my parents to Orlando, and I was on the playground of a Best Western and the same story happened: a girl said hi, I said hi, my face turned red, she laughed, and I scampered back to my parents’ room.

Anyway, here’s Bat For Lashes. I don’t recommend being shy if you want to be a gigolo, but I do recommend it if you want to have a couple of anecdotes to embarrass yourself to your audience.

-Sam J. Valdés López