EIF 2024 Bat for Lashes Queen's Hall 23rd August Review
Bat for Lashes at The Queen’s Hall, part of this year’s Edinburgh International Festival, was an event that fans of Natasha Khan (aka Bat for Lashes), songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist were not going to miss. This was a sold out show.
Tonight was the last show on the current Bat for Lashes tour and the set list included music from the new album “The Dream of Delphi” back to music from the first album “Fur and Gold” (2006).
With a musical recording and performance career approaching some 20 years now, Bat for Lashes/Natasha Khan has always been an artist with a unique vision, and tonight was a clear statement of just how many people have been captured in the spells that her music seems to so effortlessly create.
What was very clear, from the first few moments on stage with Laura Groves and Charlotte Hatherly, was that Natasha Khan had carefully co-ordinated every moment of this multi-arts performance. Nothing here was left to chance and one of the best examples of this was her carefully stage lit performance of “Sarah” from that first album in 2006.
There were obviously many fan favourites on the set-list tonight including “Daniel” and “Let’s Get Lost”, all of which received enthusiastic audience responses. Other songs in this set clearly demonstrate a writer with an interest in many of the cultural myths of not only today, but of the past, and often this was expressed in a very emotional and personal use of carefully chosen words to evoke a particular imagery.
Bat for Lashes’ music often had a core dance base to it in many of tonight’s songs, but there was also that clear interest towards the more mystical nature of the universe and how we as people can connect to other spaces outside of our daily experiences through words, music and dance.
That search for a way to become more of a part of all things was constantly part of tonight’s performance and it is clear that Natasha Kahn’s experiences in becoming a mother to her daughter Delphi and sharing some of those new found emotional experiences with us all through her new album “The Dream of Delphi” has given a new perspective to her life.
The songs performed tonight from this album, and a beautiful poem for Delphi that was read out to all of us gave everyone an insight into just how spiritual an event the birth of her daughter has been for Natasha, but also just how it has allowed the acceptance of the never-ending cycle of life that every living thing (even stars) in this universe goes through.
At one level you can simply enjoy the often dance-based roots of the music of Bat for Lashes, but listen a little bit closer, peel away a few layers and there is often something very special about what this music and its words have to say to us all.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
Tonight was the last show on the current Bat for Lashes tour and the set list included music from the new album “The Dream of Delphi” back to music from the first album “Fur and Gold” (2006).
With a musical recording and performance career approaching some 20 years now, Bat for Lashes/Natasha Khan has always been an artist with a unique vision, and tonight was a clear statement of just how many people have been captured in the spells that her music seems to so effortlessly create.
What was very clear, from the first few moments on stage with Laura Groves and Charlotte Hatherly, was that Natasha Khan had carefully co-ordinated every moment of this multi-arts performance. Nothing here was left to chance and one of the best examples of this was her carefully stage lit performance of “Sarah” from that first album in 2006.
There were obviously many fan favourites on the set-list tonight including “Daniel” and “Let’s Get Lost”, all of which received enthusiastic audience responses. Other songs in this set clearly demonstrate a writer with an interest in many of the cultural myths of not only today, but of the past, and often this was expressed in a very emotional and personal use of carefully chosen words to evoke a particular imagery.
Bat for Lashes’ music often had a core dance base to it in many of tonight’s songs, but there was also that clear interest towards the more mystical nature of the universe and how we as people can connect to other spaces outside of our daily experiences through words, music and dance.
That search for a way to become more of a part of all things was constantly part of tonight’s performance and it is clear that Natasha Kahn’s experiences in becoming a mother to her daughter Delphi and sharing some of those new found emotional experiences with us all through her new album “The Dream of Delphi” has given a new perspective to her life.
The songs performed tonight from this album, and a beautiful poem for Delphi that was read out to all of us gave everyone an insight into just how spiritual an event the birth of her daughter has been for Natasha, but also just how it has allowed the acceptance of the never-ending cycle of life that every living thing (even stars) in this universe goes through.
At one level you can simply enjoy the often dance-based roots of the music of Bat for Lashes, but listen a little bit closer, peel away a few layers and there is often something very special about what this music and its words have to say to us all.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
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