Bat For Lashes @ Oxford Zodiac, 3rd June 2008

 

Natasha Khan embodies enigmatic grace as she casts a spell over the audience with her bewitching music, enchanting the young girls emulating her style with feather-sequin headdresses and glitter-adorned eyes. Bat For Lashes have been away for a while now, and their live return is truly spellbinding. Playing a mixture of their known songs, including ‘Prescilla’ and ‘The Wizard’, whilst sprinkling in a few well-received new ones like ‘Pearl’s Dream’, the music is both earthy and tribal yet mystically ethereal. Comparisons to Kate Bush and Bjork aren’t far wrong – if you conjure the sound of Bush singing over lupine howls and the primal drumbeats of ‘Earth Intruders’ on a moonlit night, you’re getting somewhere.

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