Bat For Lashes

Bush hall on All Hallows Night casts a striking glow inside, thanks to the abundance of mini-lanterns lining the edge of the stage.

To the average attendee, this may well be just another gig. But the moment Viking Moses step onto the stage and let rip with a hypnotic blues drumbeat, you know it will be anything but.

With a slightly dishevelled apppearance, like a bunch of musical travellers plucked from obscurity and thrust into the limelight at a posh-looking City venue, the US quartet look a little bemused. So too do the audience when singer Brendan Massei lets out his trademark Neanderthal wails. The performance soon descends into a controlled chaos, with Massei writhing around his twisted microphone and his fellow accompanists looking slightly uncomfortable. I feel voyeuristic, like we're not meant to be watching them. So, too do the rest of the audience, who steadily seem to be more interested in continuing their conversations. It's a pity though, as during the few times that Massei's antics lull, the harmonies and music really start to shine.

Perhaps this all makes for an extra welcoming entrance for Bat and her girls. It has been just over a year since I had first seen Bat (aka Natash Khan)play Ladyfest in her hometown of Brighton. And what a progression it's been.

With a backdrop of Wizard the Oz projections and all manner of spooky props strewn around the stage, Bat arrives in predictable skeleton gear, while her fellow cohorts don gypsy regalia and gold glitter as a mark of comradeship.

New single and perhaps strongest song "Trophy" builds up to a climax. Ghost calls, wolf howls and evil laughter ensure that we're all back to being 5 again and Bat is our teacher, playing story-teller and transporting us back to the darker depths of our childish imaginations. Whether that's a moonlit night in the woods or walking along a cloudy shore, we eagerly lap it up.

Oh yes, Bat is definitely kooky. But not in the extreme way that you'd associate Kate Bush or in the non-sensical lyrical ramblings and adult writhings of Tori Amos. This is fantasy - but for grown-up kids.