The Birth of Bat for Lashes: The 1980s songs that inspired Natasha Khan to become a musician

Posted On December 8, 2024December 8, 2024

The leaves have fallen, the temperatures have dropped to single digits, and the end of the year is approaching. It’s officially the season of Bat for Lashes – a period of melodrama through melancholic songs with emotionally penned lyrics and cinematic storytelling.

Famous for their post-modern singles, ‘Let’s Get Lost’, and the emotionally devastating ‘Laura’, Bat for Lashes is a project that has the whole depressed 16-year-old aura down to a T. But how do they capture this energy exactly? From Bananarama to Cyndi Lauper, the music of Bat for Lashes is a blooming reflection of frontwoman Natasha Khan’s love for 1980s music and the drive it gave her to become a musician.

Placed at the core of this predominantly solo project, Khan is an established singer-songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist. Learning to play the piano at the age of eleven, it was from this point she found herself enchanted by the worlds that ’80s pop and post-rock music created.

Throughout her career, Khan has paid tribute to the sounds and visuals of music from the ’80s as a large influence on her work. When you listen to Bat for Lashes, it comes as no surprise that Khan has taken a liking to the gothic avant-garde sounds of ’80s dream pop.

One of the few musical influences for Khan is American singer and actor Cyndi Lauper. As one of many pop queens from the ’80s, Lauper’s eye for cinema and comedy is what drew so many people to her work. The raspiness of her vocals was also an oddity that not many singers could pull off, but somehow, she could. Blown away by Laupher’s timeless classic ‘Time After Time’, Khan admits in an interview with The Line of Best Fit that “’Time After Time’ was huge for me when I was 12. [Cyndi Lauper] was definitely a huge factor when I was learning how to sing other people’s songs.”

Another song from the vortex of 1980s bangers that Khan took inspiration from is John Williams’s ‘E.T. theme’, a score that has come to be a staple piece of music in the history of sci-fi. Although this might feel like a slightly odd pick, it’s not that difficult to connect the dots. In ‘E.T. Theme’ William offers a space for wonder which is a common theme presented in the tranquil sounds of Bat for Lashes. Sonically, their music has shown qualities of escapism through the softness of Khan’s whisper vocal delivery and the band’s nonchalant production.

Lastly, channeling the same notion of wistful, indie-infused shoegaze, is Drab Anchor, an experimental project from Los Angeles, California. Despite the fact the band officially formed in 2011, Drab Majesty is moulded by the sounds of ’80s rock. “I think with Drab Majesty, it sounds a lot like things from the ‘80s, but I still felt enamoured by it,” says Khan.

It’s not often that bands of today can pay tribute to the sounds of the past in a way that sees them as a fresh new band to watch. It’s easy to fall down the rabbit hole of tribute when the music you’re making is inspired by the work of past projects. For Khan, Drab Majesty’s take on ’80s post-punk is a breath of fresh air: “I was so excited to hear acts like Drab Majesty because it’s still a new person with new perspectives and new lyrics from this time.”

When you listen to Bat for Lashes, you’re easily transported to a world of nostalgia. It’s hard to shake off the wistful feelings that Khan so effortlessly weaves within their sound. Sculpted by the sounds of the

The 1980s, whether it is traditional pop anthems or thrilling alternative rock scores, it’s through these sounds that Khan took the leap into developing her musicianship skills and that we can be grateful for the creation of Bat for Lashes.

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