| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
"Desert Man" is a song performed by Bat For Lashes. It serves as the fifth track on Natasha's fifth album, Lost Girls and the second track on the Natasha's second EP, The Boys Of Summer. It is the third promotional single from the album released on September 2, 2019.
Background[]
Released in advance of the release of Lost Girls, Natasha Khan shared a snippet of the song in a piano/vocal version on her Instagram on 23 August 2019.[1]
On September 2, Natasha surprisingly shared the track by posting the link on her Instagram profile.[2] On September 6, 2019, she shared an artwork through her Instagram account.[3]
A piano/vocal version was released exclusively on the Lost Girls box set and Rough Trade editions of the album, and later released digitally on 9 December 2019.[4]
Music and composition[]
Natasha Khan, during her September 23, 2019 interview with FADER:
“It’s an obvious reference to the [LA] landscape, but also about being in a relationship with someone who doesn’t feel a sense of home — that romance about the nomadic wild guy and how difficult it is to penetrate people that don’t want to be. It was one of the earlier songs where I was using the landscape as a metaphor for these stark people, empty promises, and vast distances. In love, it’s not the real thing.”[5]
Critical reception[]
CLASH opined:
“Bat For Lashes has shared her powerful, striking new song 'Desert Man' - tune in now. New song 'Desert Man' is a wonderful return, opening in sparse, sombre shades before surging to a lush finale. Symphonic in its use to synthesised sound, Bat For Lashes allows her voice to locate its own space amid the arrangement, crooning: "Love is a nowhere land".”[6]
The Stereogum opined:
““Desert Man” is arid and dreamy, Khan’s voice lifting in the chorus to sing: “Take it slow, desert man/ Love is a nowhere land/ Love is a desert land”.”[7]
Lyrics[]
Measuring the distance between you and I
Finding the location inside
You being alive while I'm alive
Within the dusty, desert sky
It’s hard to get high with you
And not go low
I've waited so long to
Take it slow
Desert man
Desert man
Love is a nowhere land
Desert man
Desert man
Love is a desert man, man
Measuring the vastness of pastel blue
Measuring the sadness I see in you
You take me to that nowhere land
Pull me in with your both your hands
With dust and love it's all I can do to understand
It’s hard to get high with you
And not go low
I've waited so long to
Take it slow
Desert man
Desert man
Your love is a nowhere land
Desert man
Desert man
Your love is a nowhere land
It’s hard to get high with you
And not go low
I've waited so long to
Take it slow
Desert man
Desert man
Love is a nowhere land
Desert man
Desert man
Official versions[]
- Album version — 03:27
- Piano version — 03:28
- The Boys Of Summer (EP) — 04:06
Commercial release[]
Digital release[]
Desert Man (Piano Version) - Single
|
Label: AWAL Recordings Format: Digital Released: December 9, 2019 Barcode: None Photography: Natasha Khan Design: Natasha Khan |
|---|
| Single Edition | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Title | Length | ||
| 1. | "Desert Man" (Piano Version) | 03:28 | ||
References[]
- ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/B0_NoAynxhs/
- ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/B157E-5nFBY/
- ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/B2FDSwVn9To/
- ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/B52bj-rnMXT/
- ↑ https://www.thefader.com/2019/09/23/bat-for-lashes-lost-girls-interview
- ↑ https://www.clashmusic.com/news/bat-for-lashes-shares-powerful-new-song-desert-man
- ↑ https://www.stereogum.com/2056831/bat-for-lashes-desert-man/music/