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Underground > Radio & Music >

Bat for Lashes

12:02 / 05.02.07

Has anyone else caught this record? It is quite, quite remarkable. Kate Bush would be the most obvious reference point, but there's a lot more there too: one minute it'll be piano ballads, the next mournful strings creep in and in turn make way for incessant, peculiar bleeps. The whole production is very dreamy and swirly, like some sort of fairytale nightmare (an Angela Carter for the ears). This is getting a lot of play from me, alongside that Isobel Campbell/Mark Lanegan record. They seem to fit very well.

At times there is a creeping, breathy gothicism about it - particularly on 'What's a Girl to do?' which, with it's pounding harpsichord and spectorish drums, comes across as some feminine offcut from the last Foetus record.

Me like. Do you?

Haus of Mystery

13:25 / 05.02.07

Quite frankly, no. She played at my venue, and is a local Brighton 'scenester', and I find it all terribly derivative. Bit of Bjork, bit of Bush, bit of Newsom, with some heavy percussion thrown in for good measure. It's all pleasant enough, but it doesn't float my boat in any direction.

14:23 / 05.02.07

MARRIAGE tells me she's a bit of a pillock too. The kind of person who'll always be looking around for the more important person to talk to.

Mind you, that doesn't mean her music's crap. Haven't heard much of it meself.

lord nuneaton savage

08:56 / 06.02.07

Points added for the use of the word 'pillock'.

And, yeah, her stuff leaves me a bit cold. It's like she's taken all the exciting underground stuff from the last few years (paganic imagery a la Sunburned hand of the man, Spacey twinklings a la Burning Star Core, Kate Bushy bits a la, erm, Kate Bush) and reduced them to commercialised mulch. Shame.

08:58 / 06.02.07

So, that'll be a no then.

Regrettable Juvenilia

10:12 / 06.02.07

Funnily enough the first time I ever heard of Bat For Lashes was when I was DJing in Brighton and the sound guy at the venue said to me, rather worriedly, "You're not going to play any Bat For Lashes, are you?" - when I told him I didn't have any, he was very relieved, and implied this was for reasons of more than musical taste.

It doesn't really mean anything to me – I'm as suspicious of people who complain about "scenesters" as I am about scenesters themselves, and even if there's the beginnings of a negative consensus about her as a person, it might only serve to illustrate that, as someone once observed, Jealous Ones Still Envy.

I'm only really familiar with 'What's A Girl To Do?' (the title of which is surely a knowing reference to Cristina of Ze Records fame, no?), and I think that's great. It's a brittle, wintry song that picks over the bones of a dead relationship and is unflinchingly specific about the cause of death.

It seems a little farcical to accuse Bat For Lashes of being "commercialised" - they are/she is hardly Girls Aloud or The Killers. I know there's a difference between a commercialised sound and being actually commercially successful, but I'm still not sure what's being meant here, or how you'd actually go about quantifying which artists Bat For Lashes are more or less commercialised than, etc... Or why you'd bother, really.

Self-consciously spooky and kooky, on the other hand, Bat For Lashes do/does seem to be, but actually I always find that to be equally true of those acts who've been canonised for being, y'know, quirky originals (Bjork, Kate Bush, etc), and it doesn't detract from my enjoyment of their music either.

11:47 / 06.02.07

I'm as suspicious of people who complain about "scenesters" as I am about scenesters themselves

Not sure I'd describe MARRIAGE as a scenester, more a fella who likes to feel that when he's having a conversation with someone that person isn't thinking "Christ, this guy just isn't cool enough! Where's the nearest super-cool person for me to be super-cool with?"
I think that's an experience we've all had at some time or other and I also think that most of the time it doesn't stem from jealousy, rather that most of us don't like to be belittled, patronised or looked down on.

As for her music, although, as I said earlier, I haven't heard much, what I have heard has piqued my interest and got my attention. Complaints about derivativeness are something I can relate to, but I still feel are a little problematic. There's nothing wrong with colonising the same ground as other bands as far as I'm concerned, as long as what you do with that space is interesting in its own right.

Regrettable Juvenilia

11:52 / 06.02.07

Um... I didn't say or imply that Marriage was a scenester, did I? I wasn't really even saying I'm suspicious of MacReady, 'cos I'm not, it was more of a general point relating to other sniping I've heard. Possibly a point not worth making in this thread.

11:58 / 06.02.07

Was that sound man wearing a hat and looking a bit stoned perchance?

lord nuneaton savage

15:11 / 06.02.07

I bet you anything he was...

Hang on, people have complained about Brightonian scenester-ness on the Barb before, haven't they?

Re: 'commercialisation', you're right, of course, maybe that's the wrong word. The first time I saw Bat for Lashes they were a lovely, strange and floaty thing, with plenty of odd hooks and big silences where noise should be and...well, they were just a hell of a lot more minimal and interesting than the records, which are, I think, rather overproduced and polished.

I've nothing against commercial acts per se, but what I detest is when music which would be better served a bit more stripped down is made blustery and obvious in the studio.

15:42 / 06.02.07

It's funny you should say that, Lord Savage (I feel odd not using your title). A huge part of the record's appeal for me is the sheer grandiosity of it all: I like that there are always several layers of production going on, That's what makes it so wonderful. Plus, it all seems so in keeping with the dreamy fairytale atmosphere.

As far as the behaviour of Miss Khan goes, I can't say that it bothers me that much. Bad people make good records, and vice versa (that Chris Martin always seems a nice chap). With all media I always find it important to keep divisions between the artist and the art. I read an awful lot of Evelyn Waugh, for example, fully aware that, as people go, he prolly wasn't the chummiest of sorts.

Now I loathe the sort of person who's always on the lookout for a social upgrade but, were they to produce some art I enjoyed (and with Bat for Lashes, I really do), I would have to admit-somewhat grudgingly-that I did so.

I'm with Flyboy on the 'commercial' thing. It's rather splitting hairs where this sort of music is concerned. As far as I'm aware, they haven't exactly gunned for the mainstream.

15:43 / 06.02.07

Oops.

The Natural Way

17:15 / 07.02.07

Can people stop quoting stuff I might've said IRL on the internet please? I really don't like it.

Haven't heard the girl's music. Haven't got an opinion about it. Probably would have if I had the internet at home and could download music...grrrr...rzzzn.

17:32 / 07.02.07

Sorry 'bout that. Didn't think you'd mind overly in this instance.

Not sure where else you've been quoted.

11:05 / 09.02.07

i saw her (them?) supporting Low at Koko last year, agree that there is a big debt to bjork there, lovely voice, interesting sounds (particularly some percussion led tracks)

and i was thinking ideally placed to be the new cocteua twins if the new wave of nu-goth really does take off - eg the cerebral and interesting crossover act its okay to like, dark enough for the goths, good enough for everyone else and not too badly dressed.

13:00 / 09.02.07

new wave of nu-goth? shit! why did no-one tell me? can i still wear my shit day-glo t-shirts? i only just got em...

lord nuneaton savage

13:26 / 09.02.07

Just remember to dye them black and you'll be ok.

13:31 / 09.02.07

yes i'm afraid they're back. The Horrors seem to be posterboys of the movement at the moment, and it may turn out to last about 15 minutes a most youth cults seem to these days but camden is looking as badly (and blackly)dressed as it has done for some time, tho i suspect some are Emo kids having bad hair days.

still Bauhuas have reformed so not all bad.

Regrettable Juvenilia

13:44 / 09.02.07

I think Proper Goth is pretty much the cockroach of subcultures, in that it never really dies. Whether the mainstream is a little darquer than normal is kind of a separate matter...

14:48 / 09.02.07

Yeah, but this happens every few years doesnt it? Remember "New Wave Of New Grave"? Your absolutely right though, in that 'proper' goth happily carries on, regardless of what the NME decides is the next new thing. One band wearing black, does not a scene make..