That the biggest shows of Bat for Lashes’ career fell in Hallowe’en week could have been coincidence. Or perhaps the band leader, Natasha Khan, cast a spell to free up two consecutive nights at Koko, in Camden.

Certainly, until Bat for Lashes leapt from rank outsider to bookies’ favourite for last month’s Mercury Music Prize, not enough folk had even heard of them to fill the venue once over.

The 28-year-old, Brighton-based Khan is half hippy folkster, half spooky chanteuse, with a debt to both Björk and Kate Bush. Fond of glittery facial adornments and pretend mystical powers, she makes dark, dreamy, poetic music, awash with animal imagery and embellished with strings, bells, handclaps and, at Koko, a “wizard’s stick”, which she banged on the floor for the beat.

The stage itself was a work of art. Transformed into a cross between an enchanted forest and pricey panto set, it included tall, jagged trees, a backdrop of gently swaying, twinkling stars, layers of coloured cobwebs on the ceiling and a full moon. Draped from a raised platform at the back were swathes of studded material that sparkled more than a Shirley Bassey ballgown. The quirkiest touch, however, was giving the crowd catlike Khan masks to wear.

With only one album to their name, the now year-old Fur for Gold, Bat for Lashes could have been pushed for variety, but so startlingly strange are their songs that no two sounded alike.

Dressed in a gold, belted mini-dress, black, knee-length boots and heavy, diamante headband, Khan started out singing in French, while tinkling a bunch of hand bells. From the platform, half of her all-female band added double bass, cello and violin, while the trio beside her switched between keyboards, guitar, drums and more violin and added haunting backing vocals. Unfortunately, the opener, Trophy, was spoilt by overly bassy electronics, but by a witchy Tahiti and the early highlight Horse and I the sound had been sorted and was quietly captivating.

For all but a devotee, several songs verged on the twee, although it helped that Khan alternated her most self-indulgent numbers with sparse ballads that showcased her spellbinding vocals. Only on The Wizard did she reconcile her quirkiness and real pop potential, soaring over a loping beat and playing accordion.

Khan is now off to record her second album, but she left with a taster for fans – a new song, Missing Time, a guitar-led tune on which the support act Spleen, a bulky bloke with dreadlocks, came on to beatbox in a red tutu. Despite her success, don’t expect Khan to sell out any time soon.

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