Visual Balladry

Bat for Lashes @ Webster Hall 8/30/2013
Lilies / What’s A Girl To Do? / Glass / Traveling Woman / Oh Yeah / All Your Gold / Marilyn / Horse & I / Siren Song / Sleep Alone / Rest Your Head / A Wall / The Haunted Man / Laura // Winter Fields / Daniel

Bat for Lashes “Marilyn”

Natasha Khan is a very theatrical performer who has clearly given a lot of thought to the way she moves on stage. She is not overly mannered, but she has a lot of deliberate moves, and has loosely choreographed all the major setpieces of her show for maximum drama. This is saying a lot, since Bat for Lashes songs tend to be extremely dramatic to begin with – every song is basically some kind of romantic epic. She’s hyper feminine on stage, but also has this sort of mystical affect that is sometimes vaguely androgynous. It’s all very beautiful but not overtly sexual – she is focused so much on emotion and drama that the sexuality of her music is strongly implied more than it is displayed.

“Marilyn” was one of the high points of the set, and a moment where Khan’s stage craft crossed over with her subject matter. The song is about a relationship so intense and dramatic that it feels unreal, like something out of a classic film, and it makes her feel as though she’s become an archetype – “a Marilyn.” Khan has written other songs about becoming another person through love, but this one is less dark than her exploration of her character Pearl on Two Suns. This isn’t about negating yourself, but more like feeling enhanced by romance. In this way, it’s like the ultimate Bat for Lashes song.

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