Bat for Lashes - Fur and Gold (2007)

Look at Natasha Khan, with her Cleopatra shawl and elfish hair, on the cover of Fur and Gold, and you'll surely have this half-Pakistani, half-English songstress pegged as the first British riposte to the U.S. freak-folk movement that's thrown up figures like Joanna Newsom, Devendra Banhart, and Cocorosie. In some ways, that's an accurate comparison: Bat for Lashes has a way with mystique, one which elevates even quite simple topics-the break-up tale of "What's a Girl to Do?"-into grand achievements of ghostly trauma: "My bat-lightning heart," she whispers, "wants to fly away." Dig a little deeper, though, because the music to be found on Fur and Gold has a more complex provenance. "Horse and I," a harpsichord-led track embellished with theremin and a militaristic drum motif, is the sort of vintage-modern soundscape reminiscent of Björk at her most restrained, while elsewhere the dramatic tale-telling of "Prescilla" and "Bat's Mouth" suggest Bat for Lashes might yet develop into a songwriter of the poetic calibre of Kate Bush. The debut album from Bat for Lashes is a haunting, richly orchestrated work that, for all its experimentation and intelligence, is emotional and deeply moving. --Louis Pattison