photos from laweekly

Bat for Lashes has been one of my favorite musicians since i discovered her disc “Fur
and Gold” early this year. She reminds me a lot of Cocorosie, Bjork, pleasant dreams and the fables you heard as a child all rolled into one. The last time i tried to see her it was at Spaceland and they had completely oversold the number of tickets and i was unable to get in. Every time i listen to her its like I’m in that Bjork video directed by Michel Gondry for “Human Behaviour”. Bat For Lashes isn’t just a storyteller- she creates a musical realm and the music completely transports you IN to the story. Her kingdom is full of bat magic, wizards and when they play they even dress the part. Whether it be an Native American princesses, faeries, or pixies.

The highlight of the show for me is Natasha Khan’s backing band- they are all multi instrumentalists playing various instruments during they show which included- violins, harpsichord, drums, marching drums, guitar, bass, flute, hand claps, various percussion instruments, keyboards, and a few others. Natasha switched between keyboards, a stick (during prescilla), tambourine, drum, bells, percussion and bass. I was worried that in a live setting, Natasha’s voice or sounds couldn’t be recreated because the music is quite complex and requires the nuances of various percussion and many instruments. I was wrong on both counts. Natasha’s voice is simply magical. I never expected her to play “Sad Eyes” simply because it was such a quite and intimate song- she played it along with another favorite of mine, “Bat’s Mouth”. For this tour, she’s been doing a cover of Tom Wait’s “Lonely” instead of the Bruce Springsteen track “I’m On Fire” that’s on the U.S. version of “Fur and Gold”. Also in the mix is a new track called “Missing Time” featuring Natasha playing bass and it sounds great. Check her out whenever she comes to your area!

Set List:

Intro- Pearl’s Dream
Trophy (n. on percussion)
Tahiti (n. on keys)
Horse and I
What’s a Girl To Do (n. on marching drum for 1st part)
Sad Eyes (natasha solo on keyboard)
Missing Time (new song w/ Natasha on bass)
I Saw a Light (n on keys)
The Wizard (n w/ bells)
Bat’s Mouth (n on keys)
Lonely (Tom Waits cover)
Sarah (n on keys)
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Moon + Moon
Prescilla (natasha on stick)

Bjork’s “Human Behaviour”

Her video for “What’s A Girl To Do”:

Mercury Music Prize Performance: