My heart grows colder with each day :: VOTD

What’s a Girl to Do :: Bat For Lashes
from the album, Fur & Gold

About the song: 

What’s a Girl to Do? is the fourth single released from Bat For Lashes’ debut album Fur and Gold. It was released on July 9, 2007 as a CD, a 7″, and as an MP3 download.

In October 2011, NME placed it at # 138 on its list “150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years“.

Fur and Gold is the debut album by English recording artist Bat for Lashes, released on September 11, 2006 by The Echo Label. It was released to critical acclaim and was nominated for the 2007 Mercury Prize. In 2007, the album was re-released through Parlophone.

The music video (see above) features Natasha Khan riding on a bicycle in a dark forest with strange creatures behind her performing bike tricks.

 My thoughts:

This is the first official week of October, even though the first is not until Wednesday, here at Lyriquediscorde we are getting our spooky going. Starting today, and continuing through to Halloween, there will be spooky-installments every day, some through our regular features, and other bonus posts.

What’s a Girl to Do? was my first introduction to Natasha Khan and Bat For Lashes, this video specifically. I remember it making the music blog rounds, and I recall thinking two things – 1) this video is deliciously spooky, and 2) who is this singer? She has an incredible voice!

The video, with the masked bikers and a very Donnie Darko feeling, makes me wonder what is going on, longing for a horror filmed wrapped around the imagery here. Is Natasha the leader of a group of masked slashers? Is she the queen of a nest of freaks, creatures who must keep their faces covered from humanity? Are the creepy biking followers this young woman’s imaginary friends? Her hallucinations? Or are they not really there at all?

The song starts out sounding like The Ronette’s Be My Baby, and then immediately takes a sharp left turn into something surreal and spooky. Natasha’s spoken word beginning captures the attention, reminding me again of sixties girl groups sensibility gone darker and “gothier“.

It is no wonder why I was smitten by Bat For Lashes from the start.