Bat for Lashes

This article is about the musician. For the comic book character, see Bat Lash.

Bat for Lashes
Bat for Lashes performing at the PLUG Awards in New York City on 6 March 2008
Background information
Birth name	Natasha Khan
Born	(1979-10-25) 25 October 1979 London, England
Genres	Indie pop, folktronica, dream pop, baroque pop, synthpop
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, musician
Instruments	Vocals, piano, bass guitar, guitar, keyboards, autoharp, percussion, xylophone
Years active	2006–present
Labels	She Bear, Echo, Parlophone, Manimal Vinyl, Caroline, Astralwerks, Capitol
Associated acts	New Young Pony Club
Website	www.batforlashes.com

Natasha Khan (born 25 October 1979), known by her stage name as Bat for Lashes, is an English singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. She has released three studio albums, Fur and Gold (2006), Two Suns (2009) and The Haunted Man (2012), and received Mercury Prize nominations for Fur and Gold and Two Suns.

Early life

Khan was born into a Muslim family in London on 25 October 1979 to a Pakistani father and an English mother. The family lived in Wembley until her father, Rehmat Khan (a former professional squash player from Peshawar), relocated the family to the commuter town of Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire to help with his coaching of future World Open winner Jahangir Khan, Natasha's cousin. Her step mother is Pakistani singer Salma Agha and step sister is Sashaa Agha. Khan attended many of the squash matches, which she felt inspired her creativity: "The roar of the crowd is intense; it is ceremonial, ritualistic, I feel like the banner got passed to me but I carried it on in a creative way. It is a similar thing, the need to thrive on heightened communal experience." After her father left the family, Khan, aged 11, taught herself to play the piano, which became "a channel to express things, to get them out".

As a teenager in school, Khan was a victim of racism. She said other children "totally ripped me to shreds. They called me a 'fucking Paki'. I didn't tell my mum that much because I was embarrassed but I remember being mortified. I just wanted to disappear." She became a school truant and was eventually suspended for bad behaviour. After completing her GCSEs and A-Levels, Khan took a job in a card-packing factory where she would work while listening to songs she had made. She said: "My internal imaginary life was really fruitful at that time. I remember packing cards and just listening to songs that I had made the night before on my mini-disc player. All day long just listening and dreaming, while counting the cards to be packed; 'One-two-three… four-five-six-seven-eight-nine… 10-11-12.'" With money saved from the job, she embarked on a three-month road trip through America and Mexico. After returning to the UK, Khan settled in Brighton to study music and visual arts at the University of Brighton, where she produced sound installations, animations, and performances influenced by artists including Steve Reich and Susan Hiller.^{[citation needed]} After finishing her degree, Khan worked as a nursery school teacher and began writing the material for her first album.^{[citation needed]}

2006–08: Fur and Gold

Khan playing New York City's Bowery Ballroom in support of Fur and Gold

Khan's debut single, "The Wizard", was released digitally through Drowned in Sound records and on seven-inch vinyl through Khan's own imprint, She Bear Records. She signed to the record label Echo and released her debut album, Fur and Gold, in September 2006. In 2007, Bat for Lashes parted company with Echo and signed to Parlophone Records, which re-released Fur and Gold with additional bonus material. A limited vinyl version was released by Los Angeles indie label Manimal Vinyl in May 2007. Fur and Gold reached number forty-eight on the UK Albums Chart and has since been certified Silver by the BPI for sales exceeding 60,000 copies. In 2007, Khan appeared at the Glastonbury Festival and toured the United States.

Critics likened Khan's music to the work of Siouxsie Sioux, Björk, Kate Bush, Cat Power, PJ Harvey, Annie Lennox, Tori Amos and Fiona Apple. Both her albums were described by MTV Iggy as "at once haunting and way danceable." Fur and Gold was one of the albums nominated for the 2007 Mercury Prize, losing out to Klaxons' Myths of the Near Future despite being a favourite of British media to win the award. Also in 2007, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) awarded her with the ASCAP Vanguard Award and chose her to perform at their "ASCAP Presents..." showcase at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. In 2008, Khan was nominated for British Breakthrough Act and British Female Solo Artist at the BRIT Awards.

Radiohead's 2008 tour featured several shows with Bat for Lashes as their opening act. Her version of the The Cure's "A Forest" appeared on a charity album called Perfect as Cats on Manimal Vinyl in late 2008.

2009: Two Suns

Khan's second album, Two Suns, was released in April 2009 and produced by Natasha Khan and David Kosten. In preparation for the album, Khan journeyed to the Joshua Tree Desert in California to gain inspiration, before returning to New York and London to write and record the finished material for release.

A concept album, Two Suns focuses on Khan's desert-born alter ego Pearl, whose personality she adopted while staying in New York to gain a better understanding of the character. She revealed to the BBC's Newsbeat, "I really just did it as an experiment of dressing up myself with quite garish extreme feminine make-up. I wanted to photograph myself in that situation and just see what it made me feel.” Khan believed that living in Brooklyn when bands such as TV on the Radio, MGMT and Gang Gang Dance were emerging on the music scene had an influence on the album's musical style. In an interview with MTV she said, "I experienced that whole thing coming out, in terms of beats and like going out dancing and checking out all this new music it was really inspiring." During the album's production, she also collaborated with Brooklyn band Yeasayer for the bass and beat programming.

Two Suns debuted at number five on the UK Albums Chart, and has been certified Gold by the BPI for sales of 100,000 copies. The first single from the album, "Daniel", became Khan's first hit, peaking at number thirty-six on the UK Singles Chart; it later won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song and was nominated for the MTV Video Music Award for Breakthrough Video of the Year. The following singles were "Pearl's Dream" and a double A-side of "Sleep Alone" and "Moon and Moon", the latter of which was featured in a high profile advertising campaign for children's charity Barnardo's in late 2009.

Bat for Lashes at the Primavera Sound 2009

Critical response to the album was generally favourable, generating a score of 77 on the review aggregator Metacritic. In their review for Two Suns NME awarded it 8 out of 10 describing the album as "epic in scope and ambition and requires a similarly epic patience to unravel its charms." Rolling Stone also rated it favourably stating, "Khan proves she's a powerhouse under her billowy sleeves. She could be the next Kate Bush." However some critics such as Popmatters found problems, reviewing the album they claimed, "While the weaker songs are definitely not throwaways, they miss the mark in more than one way." Blender magazine also felt the album was average, awarding it 3 out 5 stars, claiming "The contrast between Pearl and Natasha isn't always crisply drawn". As with Fur and Gold, Khan was nominated for the Mercury Prize for Two Suns. In 2010, she won Best Alternative Act at the UK Asian Music Awards and received a second BRIT Award nomination for British Female Solo Artist.

As part of the 2009 summer festival season, Khan played at Glastonbury, Somerset House and the iTunes Festival. In September 2009, a special edition of Two Suns was released in the United Kingdom ahead of Khan's October tour. The special edition, which includes a cover version of Kings of Leon's single "Use Somebody", was released simultaneously in the United States. Later in 2009, the cover artwork for Two Suns was nominated for Best Art Vinyl.

2010–present: The Haunted Man

In early 2010, Khan toured South America supporting Coldplay after a one-off gig at The De La Warr Pavilion. In mid-2010, she collaborated with Beck on the track "Let's Get Lost" for the Twilight Saga: Eclipse soundtrack. Khan expressed interest in working with Beck on her third album, saying he had "creative ideas."

In 2010, Bat for Lashes contributed the song "Sleep Alone" from Two Suns to the Enough Project and Downtown Records' Raise Hope for Congo compilation. Proceeds from the compilation fund efforts to make the protection and empowerment of Congo's women a priority, as well as inspire individuals around the world to raise their voice for peace in Congo. For Record Store Day 2010, Bat for Lashes released an exclusive double A-side 7" single comprising a live performance of "Trophy" single B-side "Howl" recorded at De La Warr Pavilion and a cover of Wild Is the Wind, originally written by Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington.

In 2011, Khan recorded a cover version of Depeche Mode's song "Strangelove" for a Gucci advertising campaign. The song was released as a free download from Gucci's channel on YouTube and various blogs. In June 2011, Khan performed two shows at the Sydney Opera House as part of the Vivid LIVE Arts Festival, her only performances of the year.

In May 2010, Khan stated she was in the early stages of writing a third album and "wanted to take more time with this one". In June 2012, it was announced that the album, titled The Haunted Man, would be released on 15 October 2012 in the UK. The lead single from the album is called "Laura", presented previously on live concerts, and it was released digitally on 24 of July, at midnight. A music video was also released along with the single announcement and the album cover release. The second single from the album "All Your Gold" was released in October 3, along with the music video, directed by Noel Paul.

On 20th February 2013, Khan attended the Brit Awards 2013 having been nominated for 'Best British Female'. Other nominees being Paloma Faith, Jesse Ware, Emelie Sandé and Amy Winehouse. However, Sandé won the award.

She recently performed at the 2013 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

Discography

Main article: Bat for Lashes discography

• Fur and Gold (2006)
• Two Suns (2009)
• The Haunted Man (2012)

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Result
2007	Mercury Prize	Fur and Gold	Nominated
	ASCAP Awards	Vanguard Award	Won
	MTV Europe Music Awards	MTV Europe Music Award for Best Video ("What's a Girl to Do?")	Nominated
2008	Brit Awards	British Breakthrough Act	Nominated
		British Female Solo Artist	Nominated
2009	Mercury Prize	Two Suns	Nominated
	MTV Video Music Awards	Breakthrough Video (Daniel)	Nominated
	Best Art Vinyl of 2009	"Two Suns"	Nominated
2010	Brit Awards	British Female Solo Artist	Nominated
	UK Asian Music Awards	Best Alternative Act	Won
	Ivor Novello Awards	Best Contemporary Song (Daniel)	Won
2013	Brit Awards	British Female Solo Artist	Nominated
	Virgin Media	Best Album of 2012	Nominated
	Ivor Novello Awards	Best Song Musically and Lyrically (Laura)	Pending

External links

• Official website
• Bat for Lashes at Allmusic
• Media related to Bat for Lashes at Wikimedia Commons