Bat For Lashes - Fur and Gold

Imagine the combined voices of Bjork and Tori Amos trapped in the body of Lilly Allen and you’re halfway into the world of Bat For Lashes. Brighton-based Natasha Khan, the singer/songwriter with the nom de plume Bat for Lashes, matches all three of these contemporaries on eccentricity. Natasha describes her music as “like a gun that fires wolves” and cites "weather phenomena" and "childhood Halloween parties" as among her greatest influences. These quirky elements sound like trite sound bites until you actually listen to the music within Fur and Gold, which almost instantly takes you to a place finely balanced between nightmare and beauty. Bat For Lashes create an evocative and enchanted nocturnal realm transporting you into a world mid way between sleeping and waking. Her debut single, ‘"The Wizard / I Saw A Light," was self released in May as a 7” and instantly sold out. The song itself, one of the highlights of the album, comes across like a sweeping post modern version of Kate Bush’s , all electronic resonance and otherworldly whispered vocals. Natasha also immerses herself in a dreamlike world when on stage, characterising herself somewhere between a feral forest creature and a child playing dress up. Covered in war paint and sporting an Indian headdress it comes as no surprise that she was a performance artist before turning her hand to music. There is something about the songs that make me recall the strange Finnish children’s show "The Moomins," as if whilst listening I half expect to be carried away by small Scandinavian trolls in a haze of surreal emotive angst. This thought is echoed entirely by Natasha herself as her journey into music apparently began when, in a dream, she had a visitation from a black horse. The horse, on arriving at her window ledge, swept her away into the night. The resulting song "Horse and I" is the opening track on her debut album entitled Fur and Gold. A not completely unique, but deceptively engrossing, collection of haunted storytelling driven by a brooding and enigmatic voice. [www.batforlashes.co.uk]