Bat For Lashes is a musical project of Brighton’s singer-songwriter Natasha Khan, a female artist who has here chosen to create music that atmospheric and emotional. Khan has in the past been compared to the likes of Bjork and Kate Bush; I guess that these comparisons are fair but ultimately Natasha Khan is her own woman and with this ‘Fur and Gold’ album the music possesses an extremely original and unique sound. Natasha Khan has an excellent voice, not too many great ideas however and whilst the music is vocally well sung here; you always feel that Khan is here holding something back. This doesn’t feel like the best that Natasha Khan can offer, as atmospheric and interesting as the music is I just get the distinct impression when listening to this album that Natasha Khan has plenty more to give and far more to provide.
The album progresses well, Khan possesses a haunting vocal tone and always her lyrical lines cut deep here. The music is pleasant to listen to, the instrumental sound created here can at times be rather stunning but for the most part the album lacks excitement. I’d say that this album is really rather frustrating to listen to, you always feel that Bat For Lashes has more to give but never does this happen. The tracks often lack direction, the vocals are melodiously sung out and the atmospheric nature of the instrumental side of things sounds strong but without ever leaving much of an impact.
‘Horse and I’ opens this album; ‘I Saw A Light’ closes it and nothing in between really sticks. The music is all very similar; every track is performed in the same sort of fashion and although this is an album that is full of passion it’s also somewhat lacking in terms of the energy of the music’s delivery. Excellent use of piano sound is made throughout this album, the tracks build well but without ever really going anywhere. Every track builds up to what you expect to be a huge finish; the build up merely continues and progresses however and never does the huge build ever seem to amount anything. For the most part what we hear here is the dual sound of Natasha Khan’s vocals and the piano sound also; these two sounds compliment one another well but Bat For Lashes is I feel a musical project where the best is yet to come.
This whole album sounds like an introduction to Bat For Lashes, these eleven tracks prepare you for what’s to come in album number two but without ever revealing much here. A bit like a good movie trailer; ‘Fur and Gold’ has you craving for more, it doesn’t tell you too much but does just enough to capture your interest and have you thinking hard about what you’ve just heard. It’s not a good album as too little happens here, it’s definitely okay though and the fact that I’m now wanting for album number two perhaps suggests that this album has done its trick and served its purpose. The album definitely seems to hold back in what it offers, this Bat For Lashes debut has all the potential to explode and yet it never actually does so. I don’t think I’d really recommend listening to ‘Fur and Gold’, another album is however due in 2008 so perhaps your money would be better spent waiting for the next album to emerge and giving album number two a listen instead.
Label: Echo
Release Date: September 11th 2006
Rating:
UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.