The Barbican is an otherworldly space. The poured, roughly hewn concrete. Balconies overflowing with greenery. Nature reclaiming brutalism. It seems like a city within The City. We never seem to recall which came first. It’s a dreamworld. Quite a fitting space for self-proclaimed mother witch Natasha Kahn AKA Bat For Lashes to bring her cauldron of mystical pop, haunting balladry and (as in the show notes) devotional love songs to a devoted audience.
With bandmates Laura Groves and Charlotte Hatherley, Natasha takes to the stage with power and grace, and after opening with At Your Feet, taken from her new album The Dream of Delphi the statement of intent has been made. The dream world of the Barbican is fully integrated into the dream worlds of Kahn’s strange and expansive imagination. Lost Girls anthem The Hunger follows, and we are bathed in lurid red light, our hearts pounding along to the huge organ motif. It’s compelling, captivating and vivid – putting us right into the heart of the vampiric desire of the song.
From there, the trio guide us through a set-list of Bat For Lashes back catalogue songs. This is not simply a tour of the hits, but more a curation of theme to support both the new album The Dream of Delphi and, more importantly, to celebrate Kahn’s new role as mother to her first child (and inspiration for the new album) This comes to an emotional high-point when they perform Letter for my Daughter which is followed up by a beautiful recital of the poem ‘If You be The Universe’ – it seems we are all moved to spend some moments in introspection, allowed by Khan to think on our time on this plane and what we wish to leave behind. There is silence for a second after the recital, and then we all return to the hall and release. It’s a beautiful moment.
Khan’s stage presence is that of grand ringmaster, actor, siren and mystic sage – she falls into character, prowling the stage during The Wizard, percussively striking the ground with a staff, as if marshalling powers and auras around that only she can see and command. During the penultimate song, the rapturous Lillies, Kahn whips her head back and whoops and howls after erupting the line "thank God I’m alive! Thank God I’m alive!” to which we all instinctively whoop and holler back, the mother wolf and her cubs howling in elation.
The grand spell is cast and the final song, Kids in the Dark takes us to a romantic, twilight night, possibly in Kahn’s memory, possibly in all of ours – back to a place of secret teenage love and desire; powerful, immediate and private. It’s a devastating way to end the show.
But, of course, there is an encore – the applause bringing the trio back out for All Your Gold, Wilderness and the magnificent Laura which is greeted with huge cheers before the second bar is even played. And so, triumphantly Kahn, Groves and Hatherley leave the stage arm-in-arm and we all leave the Barbican, out into the night and into the city within the City, everything now a different dreamworld.
This report from TheNeverPress is an independent piece of work. We attended the (amazing show) via our own means. The views expressed here are our own.