The Bat for Lashes singer has build together a new band whose shamanic grooves cast a spell over the audience Wild abandon really suits Natasha Khan. SEXWITCH,her new project with producer Dan Carey and Brighton psych band Toy, has seen her tap into more raw veins than she’s ever hit as Bat for Lashes, and channelling those hippy tendencies into something gutsier and lustier. Tonight is their first proper gig after making their debut at Green Man festival,and as they open with Ghoroobaa Ghashangan, a brooding, and grooving,Led Zeppish cover of an Iranian original (all six tracks on SEXWITCH’s eponymous debut are heavily psyched-up takes on songs from various parts of the world), the mood is taut and focused, and Khan all head-shaking and hypnotic intensity. Ha Howa Ha Howa has a wired,carnal drive, Khan as demon lover chanting “He addicted me / And I addicted him”, or while Helelyos’s lurching,krauty rhythm and jagged riff race her in a restless hunt for release.With more gigs under SEXWITCH’s belt, you feel that Khan will fill her new psych shaman role fully; XOYO isn’t the easiest space to conjure magic on a Tuesday night, and sometimes the energies feel focused a teeny bit too inward. The most successful songs live are those with the most rhythmic punch; spacier moments such as Lam Plearn Kiew Bao can sometimes lose momentum. But with only seven songs to their name so far,SEXWITCH can be forgiven for overextending some slightly.
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Source: theguardian.com