Music
All-Time High (And Low) Scores
Best Of 2009
Best Of 2008
Best Of 2007
Best Of 2006
Best Of 2005
Best Of 2004
Best Of 2003
Best Of 2002
Best Of 2001
Best Of 2000
Upcoming &
Recent Releases
70
AFI
65
Air
71
Alice In Chains
77
Amerie
85
The Antlers![]()
75
Arctic Monkeys
68
As Tall As Lions
82
Atlas Sound![]()
75
The Avett Brothers
67
Backstreet Boys
56
Bad Lieutenant
68
Devendra Banhart
72
Lou Barlow
88
Baroness![]()
69
Basement Jaxx
81
David Bazan![]()
72
Brendan Benson
72
The Big Pink
96
Big Star![]()
46
Billy Talent
75
The Black Crowes
51
Black Mold
68
Blitzen Trapper
75
BLK JKS
77
A.A. Bondy
73
The Bottle Rockets
63
Box Elders
65
Boys Like Girls
76
Brand New
73
Tyondai Braxton
87
Brother Ali![]()
70
Ian Brown
75
Michael Buble
78
Built To Spill
61
Colbie Caillat
79
Califone
68
Mariah Carey
84
Brandi Carlile![]()
73
Julian Casablancas
83
Rosanne Cash![]()
69
Castanets
65
The Cave Singers
84
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis![]()
79
Vic Chesnutt
75
Choir Of Young Believers
81
Circulatory System![]()
68
The Clean
84
The Clientele![]()
71
Cobra Starship
85
Converge![]()
71
Eric Copeland
80
Cymbals Eat Guitars
71
Datarock
59
Dead By Sunrise
76
Dead Man's Bones
88
Destroyer![]()
63
The Dodos
77
Drive-By Truckers
66
Bob Dylan
44
The Entrance Band
67
Esser
69
Fanfarlo
63
Felix Da Housecat
68
Fink
78
The Flaming Lips
66
Flight Of The Conchords
79
Florence And The Machine
67
John Fogerty
83
Fuck Buttons![]()
71
Nelly Furtado
47
Gary Go
68
Ghostface Killah
79
Girls
69
Gossip
62
David Gray
66
David Guetta
79
Richard Hawley
74
Mayer Hawthorne
66
Headlights
79
HEALTH
77
Joe Henry
66
Hockey
69
Whitney Houston
68
Imogen Heap
59
Jack Ingram
79
Islands
73
Jessie James
74
Jamie T
65
Jay-Z
51
Jet
69
Daniel Johnston
76
Karen O And The Kids
72
Toby Keith
69
Kid Cudi
65
Kings Of Convenience
62
Sean Kingston
64
KISS
76
Kris Kristofferson
68
KRS-One & Buckshot
76
La Roux
84
Miranda Lambert![]()
72
Ledisi
75
Sondre Lerche
56
Juliette Lewis
82
Lightning Bolt![]()
73
Little Dragon
44
Pixie Lott
73
Lyle Lovett
66
Lovvers
75
Baaba Maal
77
Madness
84
Madonna![]()
85
Manic Street Preachers![]()
62
Maps
55
Massive Attack
57
Matisyahu
67
Reba McEntire
66
Tim McGraw
65
Brian McKnight
79
Mew
77
Malcolm Middleton
77
Mika
68
Amy Millan
76
Mission Of Burma
76
Molina And Johnson
80
Monsters Of Folk
62
Morrissey
85
Mount Eerie![]()
78
The Mountain Goats
62
Múm
72
Muse
66
Willie Nelson
78
Nirvana
97
Nirvana![]()
72
Nisennenmondai
80
No Age
71
Noah And The Whale
75
Noisettes
79
Nudge
47
Dolores O'Riordan
74
Os Mutantes
73
Osso
81
Owen![]()
76
Paramore
76
Pastels And Tenniscoats
51
Sean Paul
80
Pearl Jam
66
Jemina Pearl
72
Jack Penate
65
Phish
82
Pissed Jeans![]()
61
Pitbull
79
A Place To Bury Strangers
66
Robert Pollard
79
Polvo
72
Porcupine Tree
80
Q-Tip
80
R.E.M.
89
Raekwon![]()
69
Rain Machine
70
Ramona Falls
75
Dizzee Rascal
75
The Raveonettes
76
Jay Reatard
82
Reigning Sound![]()
81
Rodrigo Y Gabriela![]()
79
Russian Circles
69
Buffy Sainte-Marie
73
Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions
61
Sally Shapiro
78
Shudder To Think
70
Simian Mobile Disco
58
Simple Minds
72
Six Organs Of Admittance
69
Slaughterhouse
80
Slayer
61
The Slits
62
Mindy Smith
78
Soulsavers
77
Speech Debelle
58
Spiral Stairs
58
Squarepusher
55
Steel Panther
73
Sufjan Stevens
52
Rod Stewart
65
Joss Stone
75
George Strait
83
Barbra Streisand![]()
76
A Sunny Day In Glasgow
74
Susanna And The Magical Orchestra
78
The Swell Season
76
David Sylvian
83
Taken By Trees![]()
78
Tegan And Sara
68
The Temper Trap
72
Themselves
82
They Might Be Giants![]()
67
Third Eye Blind
66
J Tillman
69
Times New Viking
57
Tokio Hotel
67
Trey Songz
71
The Twilight Sad
58
Carrie Underwood
56
The Used
68
Various Artists
70
Various Artists
74
Various Artists
77
The Very Best
71
Kurt Vile
67
Vivian Girls
71
Volcano Choir
76
Rufus Wainwright
59
Weezer
80
White Denim
76
Why?
83
Wild Beasts![]()
80
Wildbirds & Peacedrums
59
Andrew W.K.
71
Patrick Wolf
67
Wolfmother
84
The xx![]()
79
Yo La Tengo
83
Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band![]()
51
Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson
59
Zero 7
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Fur & Gold

Universal acclaim
Based on 15 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 26 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Caroline
Release Date: 31 July 2007
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Alternative, Indie
Summary
The debut album was nominated for the Mercury Prize for best British album this year.
Also By This Artist: Two Suns
Also On The Web: Criticulture MP3.com Artist Space Official Artist Site Wikipedia
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
musicOMH.com
Fur and Gold announces Natasha Khan's Bat For Lashes as a talent impossible to ignore and beguiling to behold, an album that, time and again, plucks one away from the mundane and offers a bewitching alternative galaxy of delights.
Read Full Review >Filter
The U.K. sensation weaves her tales of wizards, horses and magic in a warm bearskin coat of Kate Bush sensibilities, piano playing that’ll bring you to tears and instruments that only real musicians understand, like the harpsichord.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly
Fur is, indeed gold. [17 Aug 2007, p.73]
Los Angeles Times
The collection offers a fresh take on England's druid-rock legacy, blending electronics with the elemental skin and seeds of drums and shakers in a sound that's both atmospheric and richly textured.
Read Full Review >Hot Press
Bat For Lashes' debut, Fur And Gold, is an album that delivers the listener from any form of humdrum existence into a deeper realm of dream and dementia.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club)
Closing with a bonus cover of Bruce Springsteen's "I'm On Fire" ends things on an uninspired, Tori Amos-like note, but by then, most will be too far under Khan's spell to notice.
Read Full Review >Slant Magazine
Bat for Lashes' music feels like some lost specter that has fortuitously wandered into your home and can't help but haunt you.
Read Full Review >Under The Radar
Despite her ear for meditative melodies, however, her most complex arrangements are usually her best. [Summer 2007, p.72]
Drowned In Sound
An entrancing, wonderfully surprising record which manages to feel both refreshing new and strangely timeless.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe
Even though Khan's music is not yet as ambitious as [Kate] Bush's best work, it has enough arresting moments and unique beauty to suggest that Khan is an indie songwriter and chanteuse to watch.
Read Full Review >Urb
Lyrically, Khan really cuts loose, switching from everyday matters to sinister fantasies, often during the same song, and all with extraordinary confidence.
Read Full Review >Prefix Magazine
Any other attempt at describing Khan's sound of Renaissance antiquity cross-pollinating with postmodernity--the trip-hop bass of 'Trophy' that riptides into the autoharp lilt of the spectral 'Tahiti,' for instance--falls woefully short of music so cleverly askew and oddly beautiful.
Read Full Review >PopMatters
Fur and Gold is not the greatest album of the 2007, but it’s certainly the most breathtaking.
Read Full Review >Stylus Magazine
Fur and Gold is admittedly not as strong and cohesive a record as "Wind in the Wires." At its finest, though, it does show off a rare talent for haunting and evocative songwriting.
Read Full Review >Pitchfork
Fur & Gold sounds a little bit too comfortable for its own good. Khan is a great singer, and her band is undoubtedly competent and capable, but the record sounds like it wants to be more than it is.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 26 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Ste A gave it a9:
Absolutely brilliant.
Jon gave it a10:
An engaging, fantastic and sometimes brutal album. The surrealistic lyrics and beautiful sounds make this the best album of 2007.
Tim e gave it a7:
I don't understand the comparisons to Kate Bush. I guess because this band features a British woman that's what critic's automatically link her to. This is one of those Cat Power followers like Feist. It's not bad but please it's not Kate Bush.
Tim C. gave it an8:
This is a fabulous album. Full of atmospheric songs and some quite extraordinary and original music.
Bjorn C. gave it an8:
An enjoyable listen for sure; upon repeated listening, however, I do find some of the lyrics a tad bit cringeworthy. It's as if she's reaching for the same childish faerie-musings as the likes of... say Cocorosie, but there's definitely a less expressionistic and more literally mapped quality to some of the yarns that might fare better in the hands of a more accomplished lyricist. Instead, in my opinion, they come off sounding occasionally prosaic and forced, milking the magic from the mare, as it were. On the other hand, I do find the arrangements and instrumental choices supremely blissful, and her voice manages to effectively carry her sometimes "pedestrian" sense of mysticism. However, for love of all the boys and girls out there who refuse to trade in musings of glacial palaces, fire-hooved steeds and winged-tiger saviors for a life of mindless wage-slaving for the marketed "perks" of capitalism...I give this offering an 8. I do highly recommend Faun Fables (Mother Twilight or Family Album) or Cocorosie as a no less magical complement to this album.
Jeff D. gave it a2:
I'd rather listen to Cocteau Twins, Siouxsie, Tori Amos, Cat Power, Feist, Björk or just about anything else. For those who compare Kate Bush to this...not in my opinion. Definitely a waste of space on my iPod. Very tuneless, meandering and didn't engage me whatsoever.
Auntie S. gave it a10:
Ephemeral, beautiful, absolutely otherworldly! Nicely scratches the same itch as, and compares nicely with earlier female UK trailblazers (and obvious influences) such as Kate Bush at her peak ("Hounds of Love") & early Sinead O'Connor (Think "Lion and the Cobra" era), and more thoughtful and complex than contemporary Goldfrapp. I can't stop playing it.
