Music Blogs

It's no surprise that just two albums in, Natasha Khan's Bat for Lashes are the success they are. With so much workaday stadium indie, pop puppetry and plastic R&B cluttering the musical landscape, Khan is an eccentric prog-pop protagonist in the classic mould; ambitious, alluring and unashamedly "other". Furthermore, as tonight's assembly attests she's more than capable of straddling the stools, enticing mustachioed hipsters, the Radio 2 set and Lilly Allen fans alike out into the drizzly Tuesday night.

How is it that these seemingly disparate camps should all have a vested interest in Khan? Put simply, her prismatic approach to music and presentation ensures that virtually all bases are covered as she determinedly knits together the pastoral, tribal, medieval, mystical and ethnic with avant-garde, electronic, orchestral and traditional pop flourishes. On record it makes for a heady, exotic brew but live, it tends towards contrivance and the discrepant influences ring hollow.

Certainly this is not the fault of Khan's delivery; her voice is flawless throughout; strident and declamatory on both "Siren Song" and "Pearl's Dream". Nor is it her fine backing band who although at times seem to rely too heavily on rigid pre-sequenced backing tracks, ("Daniel" in particular) can still render the likes of "Two Planets" and "Tahiti" with crystalline clarity; Khan's foil, onetime Ash guitarist Charlotte Hatherly deserves a special mention too, hammering away at a harpsichord one minute and coaxing billowing atmospherics from her guitar on "Trophy" the next. Nor is it the flabby mid-section which meanders through a glut of listless keyboard led ballads. More that by overcooking the mysticism and her grab bag of influences the whole package feels so much less palatable.

Of course we want a show, but does Khan have to be lit from below like she's about to tell a spooky wooky campfire story? She's already wearing a cape and cat suit, do we really need the witch hands and the rattle of what appears to be dried newts ears on string? Forked lightning and skeletal trees on the backdrops and projections? A wind machine in front of her mic stand?! No thanks. The imagery is so evocative in the songs anyway such pointed visual cues simply makes it all a little too hammy.

Thankfully Khan's unassuming personality keeps it from full am-dram and "Prescilla" provides a fittingly wistful climax. But like the Björk-isms that seem so transparent on "Bat's Mouth", the feeling is that Khan still needs to further reconcile her influences before she's the finished product.

by Jim Brackpool