The Dream of Delphi

Since her breakthrough with 2006’s critically acclaimed <i>Fur and Gold</i>, Natasha Khan has embodied 21st-century witchy mysticism, seeming to pull her synthy, sensuous chamber pop from the great beyond. Where past records were springboards for high-concept world-building (2016’s <i>The Bride</i> hinged around a grieving woman whose fiancé died en route to their wedding, and 2019’s <i>Lost Girls</i> followed an all-girl biker gang through the dystopian streets of LA), her sixth record as Bat for Lashes brings her storytelling back home. On <i>The Dream of Delphi</i>, she mythologises her early motherhood (she gave birth to her first child in 2020) with songs that ripple with strings, elegant piano and gentle synth arpeggios. Khan sings her wispy, haiku-esque lyrics directly to her newborn: “Your life an echo, my darling, of all before/Your life an echo, my darling, of all to come,” she coos on “Letter to My Daughter”. The outlier is the soaring “Home” (on whose credits appear club gods Hudson Mohawke and Baauer), which escapes from the nursery and makes its way to the dance floor.