"The Dream Of Delphi" is Bat For Lashes' new release

Natasha Khan always embodies striking female archetypes in her work and for her sixth LP, recorded after the birth of her daughter Delphi in 2020, she creates the Motherwitch, a celestial parent protector. 

But despite the odd (comic) samples of croaking toad and dripping water, it’s not just witchy woos. It’s a raw, personal departure from the cinematic, almost studied feel of 2019’s Lost Girls, exploring simultaneously the helpless love she feels for her daughter and the break-up of her relationship with the father.

Khan creates a kind of mystic baroque that moves from the sparkling harp and deep, electronic breakbeats of the title track, to the drifting harmonium and vocal loops of The Midwives Have Left, and the tight, tense pain of Home. Khan’s lyrics are like song poems – impressionist and vivid. This album is bravely beautiful, and one of her best.