Bat for Lashes
Bat for Lashes |
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Bat for Lashes are an English female band led by Natasha Khan (born 25 October 1979), a Brighton-based songwriter.
Born to an English mother, and a Pakistani father, part of the eminent family of squash-playing Khans, her early childhood was spent travelling the world following her father who trained the Pakistani squash team, summers in Pakistan, and the rest of the time in Hertfordshire[1][2]. She had a strict religious upbringing until her parents separated, when she was eleven years old.
Khan graduated in film and music; while at university her experimental work was influenced by artists such as Steve Reich and Susan Hiller, and she produced multi-media work centred on sound installations, animations and performance. She went on to work as a nursery-school teacher, and it was during this period that she began writing the material for her first album.
Her debut single, "The Wizard", was released digitally through DiS records and on seven inch through Khan's own imprint, She Bear Records. She then signed to the record label Echo, alongside Feeder and Róisín Murphy, and released her debut album, Fur and Gold, on 11 September 2006.
Bat for Lashes' music has been likened to the work of Björk, Cat Power, Tori Amos, and Kate Bush.
2007 has been a great year for Bat for Lashes, with acclaimed appearances at Glastonbury and a very successful tour of the USA [citation needed]. On 17 July the album Fur and Gold was announced as one of the albums nominated for the 2007 Mercury Prize. Despite being the favourite to win, by both the bookies and the pundits —and after performing the song "Horse and I" at the ceremony held at London's Grosvenor House and presented by Jools Holland on Tuesday 4 September 2007, Bat for Lashes lost out to the bookies rank outsiders Klaxons.
Discography
Albums
- 2006: Fur and Gold
Singles
- 2006
- "Trophy"
- "The Wizard"
- 2007
- "Prescilla"
- "What's a Girl to Do?"
External links
- Bat for Lashes official site
- Bat for Lashes at MySpace
- Bat for Lashes at Discogs
- Bat for Lashes interview at musicOMH.com
- Bat for Lashes interview on PlatformsMagazine.com
- Bat for Lashes audio interview (English plus French translation) on arbobo.fr
- Popjustice release schedule for U.K. singles
- Following the horse of her dreams Bat for Lashes interview at Telegraph.co.uk, 09/09/2006 (accessed 05/07/2007
- Video Music Bat For Lashes "What’s a girl to do"
- Fur and Gold limited LP on Manimal Vinyl Records