Garden's Heart

Album: How I Live Now (2013)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Natasha Khan recorded this song with Jon Hopkins for the soundtrack of the Kevin Macdonald-directed film How I Live Now, which is based on the young adult novel by Meg Rosoff. Khan is best known for her solo music, which she releases under the moniker of Bat For Lashes, whilst Hopkins is a London-based producer who writes and performs his own melodic Electronica and Dance music. The song was released via Parlophone as a standalone digital single on October 7, 2013.
  • Hopkins (who scored the movie) and Khan wrote and recorded the song in two days at the producer's studio in Bow, East London. "Having been fans of each other's work for some time, Khan and Hopkins have been looking for the right project to collaborate on," said the label. "While Hopkins was working on the score for How I Live Now, it struck him as the perfect fit."
  • Khan made her directorial debut for the single's video. The clip features Saoirse Ronan, who stars in How I Live Now. Khan, who studied film at university, described the visual to NME as a "quite Pre-Raphaelite-like short film."
  • Khan wrote the riff in around ten minutes, which Hopkins then built everything else around. "I knew I wanted a kind of sad, shoegazy sound," Khan told NME "We set up a pedal and I wrote the first chorus. I'd read some pastoral, romantic poetry and already written some words as a reaction to seeing the film. I looked at my words and then the melody came."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Rufus Wainwright

Rufus WainwrightSongwriter Interviews

Rufus Wainwright on "Hallelujah," his album Unfollow The Rules, and getting into his "lyric trance" on 12-hour walks.

Billy Gould of Faith No More

Billy Gould of Faith No MoreSongwriter Interviews

Faith No More's bassist, Billy Gould, chats to us about his two new experimental projects, The Talking Book and House of Hayduk, and also shares some stories from the FNM days.

Sam Phillips

Sam PhillipsSongwriter Interviews

Collaborating with T Bone Burnett, Leslie Phillips changed her name and left her Christian label behind - Robert Plant, who recorded one of her songs on Raising Sand, is a fan.

Gene Simmons of Kiss

Gene Simmons of KissSongwriter Interviews

The Kiss rocker covers a lot of ground in this interview, including why there are no Kiss collaborations, and why the Rock Hall has "become a sham."

Psychedelic Lyrics

Psychedelic LyricsMusic Quiz

Whoa man! Do you know which band came up with these cosmic lyrics?

Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde

Johnette Napolitano of Concrete BlondeSongwriter Interviews

The singer/bassist for Concrete Blonde talks about how her songs come from clairvoyance, and takes us through the making of their hit "Joey."