Bat for Lashes 

Belgrave Music Hall, Leeds – 13 June 2023

Review by John Siddique

Seeing Natasha Khan, aka Bat for Lashes, up close in a space that can hold around 300 people was something extraordinary – accompanied only by her own instruments and a violin and viola. Multi-instrumentalist Khan greeted the audience with beams and smiles with this and the previous night’s show in Nottingham – her first in the UK in quite a few years. But, from the outset, it was clear that things had changed. This was now a deeply embodied Natasha Khan, shaped by recent motherhood and the lockdown events of the last few years. This embodiment radiated out from her to be felt by everyone in the room as, song by song, you could sense the layers falling off people. They returned by osmosis to their deeper selves, a combination of humanity and wildness. Her femininity encourages the beauty of embodiment – the feminine in the room and the masculine, too, as authentic versions of each opens to support the other.

New to her way of presenting is a choreography of movement for each song. Dressed in what looked like the sheer tattered inner garments to go under a wedding dress, she appeared in many ways to be almost naked on stage, not just in terms of the costume but also her being. Opening with three unnamed new pieces from her forthcoming album, the theatricality, rather than creating distance, brought everything up close. Khan’s work is deeply personal, but always invites the listener and viewer to be themselves – a rare thing in today’s culture. Moving through her repertoire from the albums The Lost Girls (2019), Two Suns (2009) and her award-winning first one, Fur and Gold (2006), the songs fitted beautifully with the new presentation in their open-textured mysticism and sexuality. 

The music shifted from playback tracks, with just Natasha singing and moving to them, to accompanied pieces, but the thing with Natasha Khan is her voice – where she truly slays her audience. Around a third of the way into the set, she takes to the piano and delivers the most heart-clearing version of ‘Deep Sea Diver’, and you feel the change in the crowd as they are earthed by it. Throughout, Natasha’s voice is indescribable, but I’ve often maintained that she has one of the most beautiful female voices in music. There are others technically equal, to be sure, YVA and Shalpa Salique come to mind, but Natasha’s beingness and life are equal parts of her instrument, giving shape and breath to an incredible voice. It is uniquely hers, and delivers right into your soul. 

On her song ‘Trophy’, she thumps the stage rhythmically with an actual broomstick – invoking what she laughingly calls her mother-witch nature. I know this sounds strange, but Natasha and her art remind me of the late great guitarist Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. She, like him, can lean into the space of the moment and draw the implicit music out through her instrument – with absolutely clear transmission. 

There is not a weak moment in the show – though standing where we were, we could clearly see her worries, thoughts and joys conveyed to the sound technicians as each song was brought to life. There are moments when she seems to be channelling something of Freddie Mercury, and at other moments Kate Bush, but she is always uniquely herself. There is even a feeling of the Netflix sci-fi series The OA’s ‘Five Movements’ (to raise the dead or travel between dimensions) within the actions of some of the dances. Closing the first set with a beautiful rendition of ‘Kids in The Dark’, she morphs into Cyndi Lauper’s ‘True Colours’ and back again, before switching to the final song, ‘Close Encounters’, and I don’t think there was a dry eye or heart in the house. 

For her first encore, she displayed her ability to be in the space of the moment again, performing ‘Sleep Alone’ to nothing but a rhythm of claps from the audience. The second encore was the expansive opener from her Two Suns album, ‘Glass’, and the absolutely final song, ‘Laura’, which she says is her biggest hit, was accompanied by solo violin. The audience would have kept her all night – you could see the delight on everyone’s face, especially Natasha Khan’s. If you ever need a rewilding of your heart, please go to see this most remarkable artist. This art and its channel to audiences are a gift from life itself.

Photo by John Siddique

https://www.songkick.com/artists/130039-bat-for-lashes