Album review: Bat For Lashes
Bat for Lashes
Fur and Gold
Label: Echo
Website: www.batforlashes.co.uk
Myspace: www.myspace.com/batforlashes
Release Date: 11th September 2006
Rating: 4 out of 5
At the risk of completely tainting this review by beginning with a lazy comparison, I really feel we ought to get this out of the way - the first thing you think when you hear the Bats For Lashes album is, for better or worse, “Kate Bush”.
In fact, Bat For Lashes’ Natasha Khan is the latest in the lineage of female singer/songwriters for whom themes of the pastoral and the mystical provide inspiration and obsession; a lineage that includes Bush, Stevie Nicks and Björk, to name but a few.
Inspired by a dream, opening track Horse & I is a bonkers mystical sleepwalk peppered with spooky wood-nymph strings, Civil War drums and strident, plaintive vocals. It’s like what Björk would be like if she were English - but with less bleeps, more harpsichord. One can only guess at just how insanely terrifying Natasha Khan’s dreams are.
The general feeling of unease and disorientation continues with track Trophy – possibly the most Björk-esque - coming on a bit like Human Behaviour but infinitely more terrifying. Tahiti is driven along by a lilting piano refrain that carries Khan’s voice along in a haunting Siren song, luring you to deserted beaches and secluded lagoons.
What’s A Girl To Do raises the ghost of 60s girl bands, specifically The Ronettes' Be My Baby. The spoken-word intro and the deep timpani drums soon phase into layered vocals and subtle electronica. Sad Eyes is a heart-rending ballad in the traditional mould, but teeters on the edge of trite; evidence that it is in the arena of the strange and the mystical that Khan truly excels. The excellent Bat’s Mouth, for example, is a delicate, beautiful ballad; less obvious than Sad Eyes and all the better for it.
It would be easy to write this album off as simply quirky or “eclectic”, but it would do Bat For Lashes a grave disservice. It’s not an instantly accessibe album, and its wilful eeriness will definitely scare away the dinner party crowd.
Given a chance, its themes of dreaming and awakening, of fantasy and myth, weave a complex and interesting tapestry, struck through with rich threads of musicianship and imagination.
Listening to this album is like being lost in a Romanian forest at night - full moon and wolf-howl, Gypsy intrigue and mischief in the woods. Leaving you halfway between being petrified and thrilled, Fur and Gold insinuates itself into your subconscious and makes you feel that you’ve experienced something deeply personal and affecting.
And how often does that really happen?
Fur and Gold
Label: Echo
Website: www.batforlashes.co.uk
Myspace: www.myspace.com/batforlashes
Release Date: 11th September 2006
Rating: 4 out of 5
At the risk of completely tainting this review by beginning with a lazy comparison, I really feel we ought to get this out of the way - the first thing you think when you hear the Bats For Lashes album is, for better or worse, “Kate Bush”.
In fact, Bat For Lashes’ Natasha Khan is the latest in the lineage of female singer/songwriters for whom themes of the pastoral and the mystical provide inspiration and obsession; a lineage that includes Bush, Stevie Nicks and Björk, to name but a few.
Inspired by a dream, opening track Horse & I is a bonkers mystical sleepwalk peppered with spooky wood-nymph strings, Civil War drums and strident, plaintive vocals. It’s like what Björk would be like if she were English - but with less bleeps, more harpsichord. One can only guess at just how insanely terrifying Natasha Khan’s dreams are.
The general feeling of unease and disorientation continues with track Trophy – possibly the most Björk-esque - coming on a bit like Human Behaviour but infinitely more terrifying. Tahiti is driven along by a lilting piano refrain that carries Khan’s voice along in a haunting Siren song, luring you to deserted beaches and secluded lagoons.
What’s A Girl To Do raises the ghost of 60s girl bands, specifically The Ronettes' Be My Baby. The spoken-word intro and the deep timpani drums soon phase into layered vocals and subtle electronica. Sad Eyes is a heart-rending ballad in the traditional mould, but teeters on the edge of trite; evidence that it is in the arena of the strange and the mystical that Khan truly excels. The excellent Bat’s Mouth, for example, is a delicate, beautiful ballad; less obvious than Sad Eyes and all the better for it.
It would be easy to write this album off as simply quirky or “eclectic”, but it would do Bat For Lashes a grave disservice. It’s not an instantly accessibe album, and its wilful eeriness will definitely scare away the dinner party crowd.
Given a chance, its themes of dreaming and awakening, of fantasy and myth, weave a complex and interesting tapestry, struck through with rich threads of musicianship and imagination.
Listening to this album is like being lost in a Romanian forest at night - full moon and wolf-howl, Gypsy intrigue and mischief in the woods. Leaving you halfway between being petrified and thrilled, Fur and Gold insinuates itself into your subconscious and makes you feel that you’ve experienced something deeply personal and affecting.
And how often does that really happen?
posted by YG&B at 1:34 PM
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