Bat for Lashes
'
Natasha Khan
plays with the pantheon of personas she's created over the years --
The Haunted Man
,
The Bride
, Pearl from
Two Suns
-- with the ease of shuffling a tarot deck. It's no wonder, then, that she created her own hand-illustrated oracle cards featuring the Motherwitch, her avatar for
Dream of Delphi
.
Khan
's fifth full-length explores the nurturing magic of motherhood, starting with her own experiences (in 2020, she gave birth to her daughter, to whom the album is dedicated) and reaching all the way back to Mother Earth.
' music is richest when
focuses on the reality within her fantasies, and by pairing the miracle of her daughter's first days on earth with mystical expressions, she creates a feeling of connection that goes far deeper than
' duality. She gives herself over to the spell of new motherhood completely on "The Dream of Delphi," where soaring strings, synths, and harp (courtesy of
Mary Lattimore
) nearly match her elation.
's music has never been this consistently happy before; songs like "Delphi Dancing" and "Waking Up" beam as brightly as sunrises. That she sustains this warm and wonder-filled mood across
reflects a different kind of artistic confidence than she displayed on her previous albums. When
's joy is beyond words, she doesn't try to pin it down with lyrics. With its plentiful instrumentals,
is designed to be experienced as one flowing piece, to the point where the snappy synth pop cover of
Baauer
's "Home" (her daughter's favorite song) initially feels like an outlier. Though it's not as dramatic as some of
' earlier work, moments such as the tender relief and expectation of "The Midwives Have Left" are just as cinematic.
's flair for intertwined imagery shines on "Letter to My Daughter" when she sings "you came from a spiral unfolding" over unfurling synth arpeggios, and on "Her First Morning," where flutes and her airy vocals support each other like mother and child.
is at its most memorable when
grounds the album's rapture in the poignancy of parenthood. "You're a gift that I'll come to give away in time," she sings on "Christmas Day," crystallizing the bittersweet reality of devoting yourself to someone who, if everything goes right, will leave you. At times,
's soothing yet awestruck moods play more like a soundtrack than a set of songs, but those who savor
's powers of expression as much as her art pop savvy will find a lot to love here. ~ Heather Phares