Bat for Lashes Reopens the Portal: Fur and Gold Gets a 20th Anniversary Resurrection

Twenty years after Bat for Lashes first stepped into the spotlight, Natasha Khan is reopening the door to the dreamlike universe that started it all. The London-based artist has released a remastered deluxe edition of her 2006 debut Fur and Gold via BMG, pairing the original album with a vault of unearthed demos and rare live recordings that trace the DNA of one of indie pop’s most spellbinding debuts.

A Classic Restored, Not Rewritten

Remastered by Frank Arkwright at Abbey Road Studios, the anniversary edition arrives on 180g heavyweight vinyl and an expanded double CD package featuring previously unseen photography. The reissue isn’t just a nostalgia play. It’s a restoration project, polishing the album’s cinematic textures while preserving the raw imagination that made it feel untouchable in 2006.

At the center of Fur and Gold is Khan’s voice, still as transportive now as it was on release. Critics once compared her to Björk, Sinéad O’Connor, and Kate Bush, and the album’s mythology-soaked songwriting continues to justify those parallels.

The Album That Built a World

Songs like “What’s a Girl to Do?,” “Horse and I,” and “Trophy” didn’t just introduce a new artist. They announced a fully formed world, where heartbreak, fantasy, and ritualistic pop collided. The record earned a Mercury Prize nomination and quickly became a defining statement of cinematic indie music in the mid-2000s.

Khan revisited the album alongside longtime collaborator David Kosten and admits the experience was emotional. She describes the record as the one she had been waiting her whole life to make, packed with humor, thunder, heartbreak, and magic. That spirit runs through the anniversary edition, especially on the second disc, which captures early demos and BBC session performances that reveal the skeletal beauty beneath the final productions.

Record Store Day Unlocks the Archive

The celebration continues on April 18, 2026, with A Fleet of Bats: Early Demos, a Record Store Day exclusive LP compiling previously unreleased material from the album’s formative era. The limited release offers a rare glimpse into Khan’s creative laboratory, where the mythology of Bat for Lashes first took shape.

Two decades on, Fur and Gold still feels suspended outside of time. This anniversary edition doesn’t just commemorate a debut. It invites a new generation into a magical kingdom that never really closed its gates.