Bat For Lashes

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Bat For Lashes Biography

Bat For Lashes is the work of British singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and visual artist Natasha Khan. Born in 1979, yet combining influences that span decades, Natasha's work dwells in the elemental, emerging in timeless forms.

Bat For Lashes' music is bold and vivid. Her live shows, with accomplices Ginger Lee, Abi Fry and Lizzy Carey, are made up of thunderous marching band drums, desert guitar, ballet school piano, harpsichord, sub-bass snarls, hand-claps and naive beats, with the women fluidly switching and swapping their instruments between songs. There are also interludes of exquisite heartbreak; the piano ballad 'Sad Eyes' has on more than one occasion left audience members in tears. Her debut album Fur and Gold is a very special record, a cohesive collection of songs so haunting and mesmerizing it makes a striking impression on all who hear it.

It was whilst working as a nursery school teacher, following her university degree in film and music, that Fur and Gold album opener 'Horse & I' came to Natasha in a dream. Inspired by tales of Joan of Arc, Natasha is woken by a black horse at the window and sent on a fateful quest. This extraordinary dream became the muse for the songs that now comprise Fur and Gold.

Recorded in London and Brighton, Natasha co-produced the album with David Kosten (Faultline). Recurrent themes of natural forces and animal kingdoms, rugged English cliff tops and engulfing oceans - highlighted on the lament 'Seal Jubilee', are juxtaposed by the energy of rough urban living, teenage bedrooms and the freedom of California highways. Josh T Pearson (Lift To Experience) guests, adding guitar and vocals on three tracks - the brooding live favorite 'Trophy', 'Seal Jubilee' and the finale 'I Saw A Light', adding the kind of hymns and chaos that only the son of a preacher could provide.

Bat For Lashes played her first big show in London supporting CocoRosie at the Scala at the end of 2005. A year later almost to the day, Bat For Lashes headlined a sold out Scala, where the likes of Bjork, Nellee Hooper and Brett Anderson were to be seen in the sold out crowd. Other fans include Devendra Banhart, Jarvis Cocker and Thom Yorke (who chose 'Horse & I' for his iTunes Top Ten Playlist, saying "I love the harpsichord and the sexual ghost voices and bowed saws. This song seems to come from the world of Grimm's fairytales, and I feel like a wolf.")

Having spent parts of her childhood in Pakistan, Natasha Khan now lives by the sea in England.

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Bat For Lashes Picture Gallery

the ivor novello awards at the grosvenor hotel - de 160513
the ivor novello awards held at the grosvenor house 160513
the ivor novello awards held at the grosvenor house 160513
the 2013 brit awards (brits) 200213
bat for lashes aka natasha khan performs bestival 2

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The Latest Bat For Lashes News

Emeli Sande To Add An Ivor Novello To Her Brit Collection?

18th April 2013

Emeli Sande may be adding to her growing list of accolades as she is newly nominated for two different awards...

Emeli Sande And Plan B Up For Ivor Novello Awards

17th April 2013

Emeli Sande, Plan B and Alt-J have been nominated for the 2013 Ivor Novello awards. Emeli received nods in the...

Will Alt J Add An Ivor Novello Award To Their Mercury Gong?

17th April 2013

Mercury Music Prize winners Alt-J could well be adding an Ivor Novello award to their collection of gongs, NME announced...

David Bowie To Release On Record Store Day

21st March 2013

David Bowie will release limited-edition vinyl for Record Store Day next month.The 'Ziggy Stardust' hitmaker - who made a surprising...

Brit Awards 2013 Nominees Announced: Diverse? Or Just Weird?

11th January 2013

This year’s BRIT Awards nominations look as though they were concocted by a group of strangers, with wildly different cultural...

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Bat For Lashes Reviews

BRIT Awards 2013 Nominees Announced: Diverse? Or Just Weird?

11th January 2013

This year’s BRIT Awards nominations look as though they were concocted by a group of...

US Album Releases, October 23, 2012: Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar, Bat For Lashes and More Feature

23rd October 2012

Could Taylor Swift have what it takes to topple Mumford & Sons from the top...

Bat For Lashes - Haunted Man Album Review Album Review

22nd October 2012

In 2006, Natasha Khan, aka Bat For Lashes, released her debut album Fur And Gold....

A Week in Music featuring: Ellie Goulding, Green Day, Paloma Faith, Axewound, The Vaccines and much more! Feature

16th October 2012

Albums of Note... That 'difficult second album' phase is probably even more difficult when -...

A Week In Music Featuring: Nas, Bat For Lashes, Efterklang, Gaggle, The Weeknd and Much More! Feature

8th October 2012

Albums of Note… Copenhagen band Efterklang release Piramida, an album named after a Norwegian ghost...

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Bat For Lashes Festivals

Lollapalooza

3rd August 2012

Glastonbury Festival

22nd June 2011

Benicassim

18th July 2013

Bestival

5th September 2013

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