When Natasha Khan appeared on the scene in 2007 with Fur and Gold, her debut album as Bat for Lashes, she hypnotised many with her beautiful, paradoxically firm yet fragile voice, and the waiflike harmonies that went with it. Though Khan has let go of that memorable, twinkling harpsichord, focusing more on piano and filling out her sound in places with synths, guitars and strings, it's the same overriding sense of unearthly, enchanting space.
The inclusion of a second personality - a blonde femme fatale alter ego by the name of Pearl - should feel gimmicky or, at the very least, disjointed and schizophrenic, but she eases almost invisibly into the Bat for Lashes' consciousness with tracks like the string-heavy Siren Song and Pearl's Dream, a kind of mother's lament. Though Pearl's outlook might be more severe ("I've got so much wickedness and sin"), she exhibits the same migration from delicacy to overpowering presence.
As unfalteringly devastating as Khan's vocals are, this album is really all about the rhythms and beats that shudder, shake, pound and reverberate throughout. The combination of thundering bass drums, handclaps and integrated rhythms provides an ethnic and exotic foundation on which Natasha layers the wispy electro-pop of single and standout track Daniel, or the gospel influenced soul of Piece of Mind. That is, of course, when she's not doling out sombre yet sweet piano led ballads like Moon & Moon.
Though the latter part of the album loses pace a little, the eerie, ghostlike atmosphere that emanates from Khan's reverb-saturated vocals is never less than mesmerising.
