Fur and Gold is the debut album from Bat For Lashes, the nom de plume of 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.

Her debut single, ‘The Wizard / I Saw A Light’, was released in May via the Drowned In Sound Digital Singles Club and as a 7” on Natasha’s own imprint, She Bear Records. It instantly sold out, due in part to her captivating performance at the All Tomorrows Parties Festival in May, where Bat For Lashes was invited to play by Devendra Banhart; they managed “to transform the room into witching hour in a small central European forest” (NME), becoming the unexpected hit of the weekend.

Little wonder she had such an impact. Bat For Lashes’ music is bold and vivid. Her live shows, with accomplices Ginger Lee and Abi Fry, are made up of thunderous marching band drums, desert guitar, ballet school piano, harpsichord, sub-bass snarls, hand-claps and naive beats. There are also interludes of exquisite heartbreak – the piano ballad ‘Sad Eyes’ has on more than one occasion left audience members in tears.

It was whilst working as a nursery school teacher, following her university degree in film and music, that the 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 favourite ‘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.

The work of an artist with a distinct and complete creative vision, Fur and Gold is unlikely to be forgotten in a hurry. Debut albums like this are scarce, and very special.

Having spent parts of her childhood in Pakistan, Natasha Khan now lives by the sea in England... where she regularly follows her dreams.

Bat For Lashes played as special guests to Low at Koko in London on 26 July 06 (part of the Don't Look Back series), and appeared at the Green Man Festival on 19 August. They will tour the UK in the autumn.

“the imagery is uncompromisingly disturbing and anti-arcadian … one of the most stupendous, haunting debuts in ages” Sunday Times

“Khan has a mystical magic that’s distinctly her own” The Observer

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