For me, Natasha Khan is a much overlooked singer songwriter. Bat For Lashes- her main musical project – are in that lovely sweet spot between classic songwriter and more experimental musician. I was thinking lately how she never quite gets her dues. It’s possible that she’s too strange for the Dua Lipa crowd, yet too pop for the indie/ alternative lot. She’s spoken of her love of Kate Bush and David Bowie- which you can hear throughout her career – but also eighties cinema and soundtracks. She’s also a massive Cure fan.
The duality of both can be found on her second album, Two Suns, which just like Bowie and Kate Bush, sees her take on a new character. Her alter ego is called Pearl. Pearl is like something out of a Martin Millar novel – she’s wayward, glamorous but perhaps not too trustworthy.
The album is moving towards a more commercial sound (‘Daniel’, ‘Pearl’s Dream’) using less folky instrumentation as her stunning debut Fur and Gold , but there are some quirks amid those fairytale dream pop hooks, especially with the soaring ‘Glass’ and woozy waltz ‘Moon and Moon’. Yeasayer worked with her on the album in collaboration. Then the final track, ‘The Big Sleep’ sees Khan team up with Scott Walker, no stranger to making avant-garde music himself. It’s a wilfully sour note on which to close, and I salute that decision.
She’s still making music and I’m glad. We need more misfits like Natasha Khan in the sparkly pop firmament.
Hit The North 