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Bat for Lashes, Toy and Dan Carey collaborate to let loose the seductive, exotic, and irresistibly heady mix Sexwitch on the world.
The collaborators have managed to create a lovely sense of mystique in the run up to the album’s release. Fans, and the music press alike, were teased with a game of hangman, followed by a surprise set at Green Man festival, where the group decided to debut their material.
It’s been a wonderfully understated, and apt, way of of luring listeners into the world of Sexwitch, and it’s a world unlike any other.
Take the psych rock of Toy, the experimental pop of Bat for Lashes and the all encompassing production values of Dan Carey, and you have a fascinating prospect in and of itself. And the brew they create doesn’t disappoint.
The album is comprised of a series of covers. It’s a collection of 70’s psych and folk songs that the group sourced from Iran, Morocco, Thailand and the U.S. Eastern flavours permeate the record, and the opener, ‘Ha Howa Ha Howa’, brims with these striking cadences.
‘Helelyos' sucks you deeper into the strange and disorientating landscape of the album. The repetitive baseline reinforces Bat For Lashes, aka Natasha Khan’s, hypnotic incantations. Khan and her “dark girls” are really quite insistent that “they don’t want any strangers to come between us”. This is magic of the blackest kind, and it’s exhilarating.
The voodoo vibe is also prevalent on ‘Kassidat El Hakka’. An unnerving guitar riff deepens the passage into the underworld: the soundscape suggests it’s Hades’ joint we’re headed to, rather than the alternative.
Built around a loop of Bhangra like percussion, Khan foresees the moment, “At the end of breath/As your knowledge pushes to the end of time”. The track grows to a level of hysteria matched by Khan’s vocals, that abandon lyrics in favour of a series of breathy moans, wails and screams.
It’s not uncommon that Khan’s vocals are used more like an instrument in this record. They negotiate Toy member’s sonic designs to conjure a wholly convincing scene. The slinky ‘Lam Plearn Kiew Bao’ is no exception. Less forceful and yet openly seductive, Khan’s voice dances with the rippling bass and guitar.
Although both Bat For Lashes, Toy and Carey have all worked together before, it’s no less impressive that such a seemingly haphazard group of artists have managed to create such a singular, unified record. Particularly in light of the fact that the songs were learned and recorded in one day.
Therefore, it’s perhaps no surprise that this group of musicians have collectively managed such a tribal sounding record. They’re not the first in recent years: Goat’s World Music is a notable example of a similar tribal/global sound.
They have, however, made a niche area of music entirely their own with Sexwitch. The record is a coherent project that fully fleshes out the concept they began with, and it comes full circle with the final two tracks.
Although the album covers songs from the 70’s, and has many recognisable cultural signifiers, it always sounds modern. Having said that it does share, and possible owe, something to the heritage of psychedelic rock bands like Jefferson Airplane.
‘War in Peace’ feels much more like the languid, hazy lilt of their forebears. Khan leaves behind the spell inducing freak outs, and lets rip with free flowing femininity, as the band loosen around her. It’s as compelling as the more tenacious tracks, and a satisfying conclusion.
Sexwitch are the most pleasant of surprises. So often when artists collaborate like this it can be sorely disappointing, and less than the sum of its parts. Not so here: Sexwitch have made an engaging curiosity of uninhibited trans global psych rock that delves into dark, alluring places.
Whether the group have a future in the long term remains to be seen. This recording somehow feels as transient as when Khan sings, “When I die I’ll go back to where I was.” If thats the case, we should enjoy Sexwitch before they revert to their respective day jobs.
