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MUSIC<br />
“I’ll always be the girl who<br />
was denied,” Khan sings.<br />
She sounds at peace as<br />
she comes to terms with her<br />
forced independence, and<br />
she approaches the track’s<br />
openness as if embracing a<br />
lushly orchestrated ballad.<br />
As the highest-energy<br />
moment on the record, “Sunday<br />
Love” lightly toys with<br />
electronics and races around<br />
Khan’s falsetto. It’s the sound<br />
of dance-floor lights spinning<br />
wildly. Thematically, the tense<br />
song grapples with feelings<br />
of lust in times of disaster. A<br />
lonesome Western tone permeates<br />
“Never Forgive the<br />
Angels” and then Khan sings<br />
“Close Encounters” as if it<br />
was a church hymn. Things<br />
briefly become drastically<br />
dark on “Widow’s Peak,” a<br />
work of tortured demonic<br />
folk on which Khan exorcizes<br />
pain and regains control.<br />
The bride has transformed.<br />
“You’re my blood, you’re my<br />
wine,” she sing-speaks to an<br />
assumed lover. But is freedom<br />
attained? The calming<br />
bass-driven melody of “I Will<br />
Love Again” hints as much.<br />
Only there’s no idealism.<br />
Love instead is framed<br />
a choice.<br />
So no, The Bride isn’t<br />
a fairy tale. It’s a cautionary<br />
narrative about the joys<br />
of falling in love, and it<br />
lets a question linger: Are<br />
you ready for something<br />
potentially terrifying?<br />
—Todd Martens<br />
©Photo by Eliot Lee Hazel<br />
38<br />
TONE AUDIO NO.78<br />
AUGUST 2016 39
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