Bat For Lashes: wondrously ethereal and stunning (REVIEW)

After what seems like a lifetime since her last visit, it was a joyous welcome for Natasha Khan, AKA Bat For Lashes to come back to Edinburgh to perform as part of the Edinburgh International Festival’s contemporary music strand. With the theme ‘Rituals That Unite Us’ the programming team have excelled here with the inclusion of this performance, as Natasha takes us to the realms of teenage vampires, her motherly love for daughter Delphi and ‘swimming, come rain or shine’, being held by nature.

At the forefront of art pop, with a mix of goth and the ‘80s power ballad, Bat For Lashes astounded the crowd with a set list made up of most recent LP, The Dream of Delphi and tracks from the LP that sits at the forefront of my mind, Fur and Gold, which came out in 2007. Adorning a white gothic dress you could easily associate with Shakespears Sister, Khan regaled the audience with the context behind many of her tracks before launching into them. The track ‘Sarah’ was inspired by someone she was in love with at university, but also JT LeRoy’s book of the same name. It was great to hear both this and ‘Tahiti’ from the 2007 LP, as wondrously ethereal and stunning as when performed with the release of the album. With Laura Groves on keys and Charlotte Hatherley on guitar, she took to the stage with a female power pop strength impossible not to observe.

A stripped-down reworking of her 2009 track ‘Daniel’ is particularly well-received and title track ‘The Dream of Delphi’ reserved a special place in this set list with those synths and that rhythmic drumming. Mesmerised, we inhale her ghostly harmonies with great want and go as far as giving her a standing ovation as she thanks her band, and her fans. Concluding her tour in Edinburgh, there was a warmth to this gig that she will likely take home, as with her listeners. There was an aura of delicate fragility and the witchery of the other worlds as we leave The Queen’s Hall this Friday.