Born in Pakistan and bred in England, Bat for Lashes' Natasha Khan crafts an otherworldly lament in "What's a Girl to Do?" With vocal assists from Caroline "Ginger Lee" Weeks, Abi Fry, and Lizzy Carey, the track functions as a sort of gothic breakup song, advancing The Shangri-Las' sound by 40 years without losing what made it special in the first place.
Employing ethereally layered vocals and the ultimate girl-group qualifier, the tambourine, Khan and company describe the heartbreaking reality of extinguished love: "When your dreams are on / a train to trainwreck town / then I ask you now, 'What's a girl to do?'" As straightforward as the message may be, Bat for Lashes keeps the instrumentation lush and atmospheric, making the song hypnotic as it is heartbreaking.
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