Bat for Lashes

Fur & Gold features an extensive use of piano on most of its 12 tracks, but not in an “I am an artiste, bow down before my introspective profundity” Tori-Amos-sorta-way.

In additional to all the tickling ivories, there are a lot of other unique sounds on this album… on THE WIZARD I could swear they’re using a Maxwell house coffee can filled with dried lima beans to get that sound. And the much-lauded track PRESCILLA definitely uses the hand jive and a harpsichord to keep the beat.

Oh, and did I fail to mention Natasha Khan’s incredible voice?

This half-Pakistani, half-English songstress has been pegged as the British response to the U.S. freak-folk movement (comprised of artists like Joanna Newsom, Devendra Banhart, and Cocorosie). But let me reassure you that Bat for Lashes is much more accessible to the general public that the American fringe artists to whom she’s been compared.

The debut album is a hauntingly beautiful, richly orchestrated work that, for all its experimentation, is an album that I think we can all agree is AWESOME.

In this video for WHAT'S A GIRL TO DO,
keep an eye out for some masked sweetness at the .39 mark!