Idolator: bat for lashes

No. 28: Natasha Khan Does Not Want You To Be Her Baby

mjohnston — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 12:00:33 EST

As evidenced by the Bat For Lashes song at No. 28, which combines Wall Of Sound drums and girl-group choruses with a real-time description of falling out of love.

I first heard—and really, really liked—Bat For Lashes' Fur And Gold in late 2006, but for whatever reason "What's A Girl To Do?," Natasha Khan's chronicle of a woman's waning romantic feelings for her lover, didn't really blossom in my mind until mid-2007. The video, in which Khan and a bunch of furries go all BMX, probably helped, although not because of the ickle bunnies; for me, the video succeeded because it lifted "Girl" out of the context of the album, revealing its perfect inversion of the girl-group formula. Like many songs from that era, "Girl" possesses an overall feeling of longing, but it's different than the sadness that emanates from being rejected; instead, the minor-key "Girl," and its windblown backing choruses, capture the slow dread that creeps over a person when they're spurning someone who they do, deep down, care for.

Also, I feel like I would be doing all of you a disservice if I didn't post the oddest fan-made video I've found for any song on my year-end list:

Tragic, ain't it? And I'm not just talking about the plot.

Bat For Lashes - What's A Girl To Do [YouTube]
Bat For Lashes [MySpace]
Idolator's 2007 Top 40 List Of Awesomeness

Hitching A Ride With Bat For Lashes' Bike Troupe

mjohnston — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 11:30:18 EDT

Bat For Lashes' clip for "What's A Girl To Do?" is one of my favorite videos of the year so far—how can you be immune to the charms of a one-take movie that's completely focused on mask-wearing bike riders executing jumps in unison?—and Paper Thin Walls has a chat with the clip's director, Dougal Wilson, up today. Fun fact: Donnie Darko wasn't the only movie that inspired the video; that honor can be shared by the closing scene of E.T. and The Wicker Man. Let's just hope it was the original, because while it's a terrible, terrible movie, that punch-drunk remake with Nicolas Cage somehow managed to be worse.

Rabbit In Your Fill Light [Paper Thin Walls]
What's A Girl To Do? [YouTube]

We're probably the 10,000th music blog to ...

mjohnston — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 15:33:14 EDT

We're probably the 10,000th music blog to link to this live Bat For Lashes session on Morning Becomes Eclectic, but Natasha Khan is a pretty stunning artist, and I'm still kicking myself for missing her show last week, so this will have to suffice. [Morning Becomes Eclectic]

Idolator Goes UKrazy Over Bat For Lashes

mjohnston — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 13:08:33 EDT

An Idolator operative brought Fur and Gold by Bat For Lashes—a Chan Marshall/Cat Power-style alias for the Brighton singer/pianist Natasha Khan—home from London last week, and it's been on heavy rotation ever since; it's full of gloomily delicate laments that bring to mind the best moments of Kate Bush and To Bring You My Love-era PJ Harvey. The brooding, low-end-heavy "Trophy," which features the preacher man's son Josh T Pearson, is one of Fur and Gold's standout tracks, and it's linked below.

~~Bat For Lashes - Trophy~~ [MP3, link expired]
Bat For Lashes [Official site]
Bat For Lashes [MySpace site]