Following the birth of her child, British musician Natasha Khan, popularly known as Bat for Lashes, found herself caught in a surreal state of existence. She describes this period as a mix of purity and openness, drawing parallels to her inherent animalistic instincts. The process of making sense of this new stage in life took shape musically in her studio.
The narrative served as the foundation for her soulfully immersive sixth album, The Dream of Delphi — a title taken from her daughter’s name. Khan’s latest body of work seamlessly blends passionate balladry and introspective instrumentals, a melodic testament to the journey of motherhood. Her musical style, frequently juxtaposed with icons like Björk and Kate Bush, is often praised for its fairy tale-like quality, infused with powerful electronic elements, by outlets like NME.
The Dream of Delphi vividly encapsulates the diverse emotional phases of becoming a parent, right from the joyous highs to the draining lows. One notable track, The Midwives Have Left, poignantly delineates the raw reality of childbirth.
Khan reveals her labour was a home birth devoid of any medication. She chose to face the experience head-on, working meticulously in preparation so she could surrender herself completely to the process. The process, as she describes, consisted of making peculiar noises and moving her body to alleviate the pain, intensifying the overall experience. Ultimately, she likens the ordeal to an inescapable roller coaster: a demanding yet transformative encounter.
Delphi came into life during the six-year period that Khan shared with her then-partner, Sam Watkins, a renowned actor and model from Australia, while residing in Los Angeles. However, their relationship has since disintegrated, pushing Khan to return to her home city, London. The emotional bites from this separation are deeply ingrained in the new album. Unlike Taylor Swift’s literal approach to songwriting, this album doesn’t openly reflect on these personal turmoil.
“As I age, acknowledging that the half-term involves caring for my children gives me an admirable excuse. It’s a bonus. These days, I am more decisive about how I spend my time,” Khan reveals.
The Dream of Delphi, rather than being a literal diary, presents fragmented glimpses into Khan’s life. Her soul-baring track, ‘Christmas Day’, reflects on the mixed emotions she experiences as she watches her daughter mature. Similarly, in the thoughtful ‘Letter to My Daughter’, she speculates on what the future holds for her child.
The album is not entirely melodic melancholy, however. Khan pays homage to her daughter Delphi’s passion for early house piano tunes by covering the Baauer and Bipolar Sunshine track ‘Home’, a song her daughter relishes during car rides. This album, for Khan, transcends her personal experiences.
“It’s an album dedicated to the love for motherhood in all its variations,” she explains. “Not solely my raw journey through it, but more so how it has rekindled my connection with Mother Nature and made me realise how vital that bond is.”
During a recent Zoom interview, Khan appeared naturally beautiful, sporting neutral tones, a far cry from her early career image, which was characterised by glitter-doused headbands and glistening makeup suggesting she’d just left a children’s party-themed all-night rave.
A glance at her journey in the music industry: her debut album, Fur and Gold, from 2006, included grandiose elegies reminiscent of Björk and captivating harpsichord solos, was first an underground success, it subsequently gained popularity and represented the beginning of the trio of her albums nominated for the Mercury Prize.
After her major label debut in 2009 with “Two Suns”, she received an impressive critical response, with Rolling Stone naming her “the next Kate Bush”. Her single, “Daniel”, gained significant popularity having striking resemblance to Fleewood Mac’s style and making it to the UK’s top 40 charts. However, her enthusiasm started to fade as her record label, EMI, began to deteriorate due to the rise of file-sharing which posed a challenge for the big-label music industry. The person who constructed her contract was fired, her replacement’s primary aim was to sell more records, adding stress which Khan believes resulted in her getting a thyroid condition.
The idea was proposed to Khan to partner with freelance songwriters- this was a familiar custom for renowned pop artists but a new venture for her. She consented to test the waters and ended up collaborating with Justin Parker, a joint creator for the likes of Rihanna and Lana Del Rey, on her single “Laura” for her 2012 album, “The Haunted Man”. Though the song turned out to be quite pleasing, it didn’t make it as a hit and she wasn’t too eager to go through the experience again.
In hindsight, Khan expresses no fondness for those times, during which she felt the unhappiest. “Having major label support for my singles was exciting, and quite amazing for an artist”, she recalls. But in the same breath, she felt uprooted and adrift being stuck in the business side of the music industry. She started feeling like just another account entry for EMI rather than an artist herself.
She viewed the business side of music as peculiar. As a private individual, music was more of a survival method for her and immensely valuable to her. Despite not having the natural inclination to be a mainstream pop artist, now that she’s matured, she can assert herself better, using her kids’ half-term as an excuse to evade certain commitments. She now has more control over her time and what she wishes to use it for.
Becoming a parent often prompts us to reflect and reevaluate our childhood experiences and memories. This was the case for Khan, who was raised in the commuter heartland of Rickmansworth, on the outskirts of London’s northwest. Her father was a renowned squash coach hailing from Pakistan. When Khan was 11, her parents parted ways, during which Khan found solace in her bedroom, away from the chaotic external environment.
Khan believes the enigma or openness of one’s music is irrelevant. The key element lies in the spirit underpinning it, the restorative potential it has, and the therapeutic value it offers because all art, according to Khan, is meant to serve as a medium of healing and revelation.
Khan reckons if she was brought up amidst vibrant culture in the heart of London, she might not have been so intrigued by art. But it was her bedroom, her Walkman, and her cousins, who introduced her to intriguing stuff, that became her sanctuary in the commonplace and conventional environment. Outdoors was where they spent a considerable amount of time making sense of the tedious and uninspiring surroundings. Khan spent a few years caring for a horse and devoted a significant amount of time to immerse herself in nature while listening to a lot of music and nurturing her imagination. She viewed suburbia as a fostering ground for those with a creative bent.
Khan’s music, whether old or new, is intricate and imbued with enigma. Her initial track, Horse and I, begins with a stanza that finds its kinship more with John Boorman’s Excalibur than a common radio tune, “Was startled awake in the night, by an enigmatic golden glow.”
However not to misconstrue that Khan has a problem with straightforward songs that express exactly what they intend to convey. Khan doesn’t view Taylor Swift or Olivia Rodrigo as musical blasphemers for creating lyrics that lay bare their emotions in highly explicit terms. Khan believes that it’s perfectly fine to be direct as long as it emanates from a place of sincerity.
The artist underlines her indifference towards overt lyricism, admitting that she found appeal in the forthrightness of bands like Nirvana during her younger years. However, she underscores that it is not the transparency or ambiguity in music that matters, but the spirit that underpins it, believing that the ultimate aim of any form of art is to facilitate healing and revelation. She insists that one can immerse oneself into a Nirvana track just as they might into a longer, more progressive piece, yet detests art devoid of soul. Khan criticises the present times, where shorter attention spans and rapid lifecycle of trends make our consumption of art forms somewhat superficial – akin to hastily devouring an unseasoned meal.
These days, her creative expression isn’t confined to music alone. She has transformed her latest album into a motion picture, “Dream of Delphi: A New Transmission”, featuring choreographed renditions of her musical pieces. Moreover, she has extended her talents into the realm of fortune-telling with her own collection of tarot cards called the Motherwitch Oracle Deck. During a meet-and-greet in London, she engaged with her fans beyond typical selfies and autographs by predicting their future.
As time passes, she’s found herself dabbling in a variety of creative outlets. She hints at her potential future venture into theatre, her love for story-telling, music, costume design, and set creation evident. A keen interest in psychology, psychoanalysis, and transformation also motivates her. Khan admits that while she still highly values music as an art form, there is much more to her and much more she wishes to contribute.
Her upcoming project, “The Dream of Delphi”, will be launched by Decca on Friday, May 31st.