I'm going to level with you. Dolls, clowns, and disproportionate animal heads scare the piss out of me. So when I watched the new 'Bat for Lashes' video, I was a tiny bit unnerved.
Directed by Dougal Wilson (who's also directed videos for British Sea Power, The Streets, and Badly Drawn Boy), What's a Girl to Do is a clever mash-up of Radiohead's 'Karma Police' video and a Twin Peaks Episode. It follows singer Natasha Khan riding down a dark, wooded road on her bike. Along the way she encounters lost trick-or-treaters and a car crash. Sounds nice, eh? And it would be were it not for her demented gang of lads on BMX bikes who disappear and reappear out of nowhere wearing huge animal heads. As she calmly rolls down the road signing about a chilly relationship, the boys clap and do synchronized bike tricks to the music. If I saw this lot coming down my street, I'd shit myself.
As for the actual song, it's just OK. But when paired with the eerie visuals, it creates a package that's both fascinating and entertaining. This is the sort of video that can define an artist. One would hope Natasha does more with it than that group of twats that walk around on treadmills.
What next?More by Bat for Lashes? More reviews? More indie, or alternative?