Bat for Lashes

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 (age 32) London, England
Genres	Indie pop, folktronica, dream pop, baroque pop, Synthpop
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, musician
Instruments	Vocals, piano, bass, guitar, synthesiser, harpsichord, autoharp, percussion, xylophone[1]
Years active	2006–present
Labels	She Bear, Echo, Parlophone, Manimal Vinyl, Caroline, Astralwerks
Associated acts	New Young Pony Club
Website	www.batforlashes.com

Natasha Khan (born 25 October 1979), better known by her stage name Bat for Lashes, is an English singer-songwriter and musician. She sings and plays the piano, bass, guitar, harpsichord and the autoharp.

Khan's debut album, Fur and Gold, released in 2006, peaked at number forty-eight on the UK Albums Chart and was shortlisted for the 2007 Mercury Prize. In 2008, Khan received two BRIT Award nominations for Best Breakthrough Artist and Best Female Solo Artist.

Khan's second album, Two Suns, released in 2009, reached number five on the UK Album Chart and number seventeen on the Irish Album Chart. It produced her first UK top forty single, "Daniel", and was shortlisted for the 2009 Mercury Prize. Khan was nominated for Best Female Solo Artist at 2010 BRIT Awards.

History

Early life

Khan was born in London on 25 October 1979.^[2] Until the age of five she was raised in Wembley where her parents had met and married several years before. She was born to a Pakistani father, Rehmat Khan (a former professional squash player from Peshawar) and to an English mother. Her father decided to relocate the family to the commuter town of Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire to help with his coaching of future squash world open winner Jahangir Khan, Natasha's cousin.^[3]

As a child Khan, along with her sister Suraya and brother Tariq, attended her uncle's squash matches. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Khan reflected that seeing her uncle helped inspire her. "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." With her father's abandonment of the family Khan turned to the piano. Deciding to play improvised pieces instead of attending lessons, Khan felt the piano became an outlet for her emotions. "You need to find a channel to express things, to get them out", she said.^[3]

During her teens Khan was also a victim of racism. Speaking about her time in after-school clubs she claimed "the kids there totally ripped me to shreds." This rejection led Khan to rebel, making the decision to "bunk off" school and stay at home listening to music. "My mum would take me to the train station and I pretended to get the train; she'd drive to work and I would go home and play a tape of Nirvana all day".^[3] With the completion of her GCSEs and A-Levels she decided to embark on a road trip through America with her boyfriend at the time, using the money earned from her part time job at a local card-making factory.^[3]

After spending three months touring through the US and Mexico, Khan returned to the UK and settled in Brighton to study a degree in music and visual arts at the University of Brighton.^[3][4][5] While at university her experimental work was influenced by artists such as Steve Reich and Susan Hiller, and she produced multi-media work centred on sound installations, animations and performance.

2006–08: Fur and Gold

Following graduation, Khan worked as a nursery school teacher, and it was during this period that she began writing the material for her first album.

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 then signed to the record label Echo, alongside Feeder and former Moloko singer Róisín Murphy, 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 the addition of 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.^[6]

Critics likened Khan's music to the work of Siouxsie Sioux,^[7] Björk, Kate Bush, Cat Power, PJ Harvey, Annie Lennox, Tori Amos and Fiona Apple.^[8] Both her albums were described by MTV Iggy as "at once haunting and way danceable."^[9] 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.^[10] 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.^[11] 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.^[11]

A concept album,^[12] 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.”^[13] 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."^[12] During the album's production, she also collaborated with Brooklyn artist Yeasayer for the bass and beat programming.^[11]

Two Suns debuted at number five on the UK Albums Chart,^[14] 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;^[15] 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.^[16]

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.^[17] 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."^[18] Rolling Stone also rated it favourably stating, "Khan proves she's a powerhouse under her billowy sleeves. She could be the next Kate Bush."^[19] 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."^[20] 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".^[21] As with Fur and Gold, Khan was nominated for the Mercury Prize for Two Suns.^[22] 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.^[23]

2010–present

In early 2010, Khan toured South America supporting Coldplay^[24] after a one-off gig at The De La Warr Pavilion.^[25] In mid 2010, she collaborated with Beck on the track "Let's Get Lost" for the Twilight Saga: Eclipse soundtrack.^[26] Khan expressed interest in working with Beck on her third album, saying he had "creative ideas."^[27]

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.^[28] 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.^[29]

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.^[30] 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.^[31][32]

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".^[33]

Touring

The Bat for Lashes live line-up contains an ever-revolving cast of musicians often changing on a per-tour basis. The latest line-up includes Ben Christophers, Charlotte Hatherley and Sarah Jones, who also plays drums with New Young Pony Club. This line-up was announced in March 2009.

In the media

Thom Yorke, Debbie Harry, and M.I.A. have complimented Khan's work, Ringo Starr said she was one of his favourite new artists, and Björk was also spotted at one of her early gigs.^[34][35]

In April 2009 Khan appeared on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge. She performed an acoustic version of the single, "Daniel", and also covered "Use Somebody" by Kings of Leon. Her first appearance on US broadcast television was on Late Show with David Letterman on 1 May 2009, performing the song "Daniel".^[36] In April 2009 she appeared on the BBC2 live music show Later... with Jools Holland performing two songs from Two Suns: "Daniel" and "Sleep Alone." On 11 August 2009 Bat for Lashes performed on Late Night with Jimmy Kimmel performing the songs "Daniel" and "Sleep Alone." She also performed "Moon and Moon" during the Mercury Award's 2009 event.^[37]

Discography

• Fur and Gold (2006)
• Two Suns (2009)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Wikinews has related news: Bat for Lashes plays the Bowery Ballroom: an Interview with Natasha Khan

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