From the atmospheric opener Kids in The Dark with its crescendo-ing synth and emphatic reverb, Lost Girls is an album that grabs you.
The fifth studio album from British singer-songwriter Bat for Lashes, Kids in the Dark is also three-time Mercury Prize nominee second concept album in a row (the previous being 2016's The Bride!). It's a heavily 80s synth-pop inspired tale of a woman falling in with a vampire biker gang who drive around Los Angeles. Not only is the album cinematic in its sound, but in its lyrical allusions to 80s icons ET, The Lost Boys, and the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
Highlights include 'The Hunger,' which uses ominous tribal drums with a sinister electric organ melody and yearning vocals to create a deadly ode to desire, and 'Jasmine,' a spooky yet seductive number, combining anxious synths with hypnotic spoken word to lure you in. Khan maintains a playful mood, however, with Feel For You, a Santigold-esque electronic dance bop, and with Vampires, an instrumental interlude containing the most 80s things of all: a sax solo.
Whether you are a fan of 80s sci-fi and fantasy or not, this album will take you for a ride – on the dark side, that is.