Natasha Khan, Bat For Lashes

Natasha Khan is better known as the singer-songwriter behind Bat for Lashes, a band recently nominated for the Mercury Prize. Khan weaves a world all her own with her music and artwork, and happily invites anyone to come join her there. We wouldn't be surprised if at university she majored in nostalgia, with so much attention drawn back to childhood in her work. Her wide-eyed world of yesteryear is a little bit magical, a little bit noir, and seems to be fueled by a never-ending supply of innocence, experience and anticipation.

Tomorrow night her band plays at the Knitting Factory (buy tickets here).

Listen: What's A Girl To Do.mp3 (video)

As a visual artist and a musician, do you find the two mediums inspire each other?
Definitely - to me they are synonymous, like brother and sister. When writing songs gets a little bit tough, I can go away and make something visual, like illustrations, or photographs or embroider something. It takes the pressure off, and means I can continue to build my universe without going crazy!

What is some of your favorite album artwork from other bands?
I would have to say a band called Moon and Moon who come from Brooklyn, because the artwork is so intrinsic to the narrative of the music. And Will Lemon, (who's band it is and who does the artwork) uses the ancient art of hand made blockprinting and tapestry to make the images...so cool! Also I love the cover of Nico's "Desert Shores" with the horse and the desert and her little boy - she always looks so beautiful yet so dark! The guys from Godspeed and Silve Mt Zion always do the most beautifully hand made screen printed vinyl pressings with ravens and angels and thundering skies! gorgeous and special.

You've mentioned Grimm's fairytales, have you found the stories to be somewhat of a muse for the music as well as the videos/artwork associated with it?
I do love fairytales, but actually not so much the Grimms ones as the older more barbaric and ancient pagan ones! I love a book called "women who run with the wolves" as it contains Jungian philosophies and interpretations of all the old fairytales before they became too standardized and clean. I was brought up in a strict religion and so the act of storytelling is deeply embedded in me - I think thats why I was instantly attracted to deep southern/gothic American lyrics and music - and then fell in love with the biblical imagery of blues, Nick Cave, PJ Harvey, etc.

You list "The Karate Kid" as one of your influences, explain.
This film is one of several that I call the "80s hoodie films" - along with ET, Donnie Darko, The Goonies - as they all contain seminal scenes in them where the kids get on their bikes, wearing the coolest hoodies and cycle out on an adventure in to the unknown. This moment symbolizes something so deep and important to me - an epiphany when you move out of your comfortable childhood microcosm into the big bad world, to communicate with something terrifying and beautiful and exciting - to find your own path! It’s frightening and can happen all through your life, but its those moments where you decide to go for it, take risks, fulfill your purpose! It’s what life is all about, I think....sorry, getting over excited! Ha!

Did working as a nursery school teacher propel you in to the music field in any way?
No, it was my day job while i was at home writing songs and playing shows on the weekends and stuff. I had already completed my degree in music and visual art and so was teaching as a way to pay the bills. But, it was definitely the most beautiful and inspiring job i ever had. The children had such a liberated freedom of imagination and emotional range and physical expression. They had wonder in their hearts, and i got to practise a lot of storytelling on them - they loved it! ghosts and witches and robots and mermaids!!

How does it feel to have just been nominated for a Mercury Prize?
Crazy crazy crayzeeee!!!!!!!!! Very flattered, bit surreal, exciting!

There are a lot of instruments layering your album, do you have a favorite that you play?
I love to play autoharp, cause it sounds so pretty and you can pluck and strum it. But I'd have to say my oldest love is the piano, cause you can just get lost in it for hours. Playing it in the dark at night is great, or with a friend where you both share the stool and improvise and get lost in the music. That's my favourite thing to do, especially with people that say they cant play- you just tell them to stick to the white notes and it sounds amazing and then they get really elated.

Have you played any shows in New York?
Yes, we just played Joe's Pub. It was sold out! They were a really receptive audience, really nice.

Where is your favorite place to visit in New York, or where do you look forward to visiting while here?
My favourite place is probably Williamsburg Brooklyn, cause I have a lot of friends here that all live in crazy warehouses. I have met some really eccentric and inspiring characters, and there are some great bands around. My favourite shop is a vintage one called Atomic Passion, in East 9th Street. Every time I go in there I hanker after a pair of 60s kinky boots that are too small for me, but the shop keeper lets me visit and stroke them!

Please share your strangest "only in New York" story.
It was probably when i visited in 2000. It was my first time in New York and me and my then boyfriend had gone to this strange erotic film festival in the lower east side. I left my purse behind and so went back much later in the night to get it back. This verrrry strange man opened the door and beckoned us in like it was the rocky horror show...we went downstairs into a darkened basement, where a man with white hair like Andy Warhol took us into a room and showed us a humongous lightning bolt machine he had made. He told us to cover our ears and turned it on - it made lightning before our very eyes! so surreal, and so ear splittingly loud! He said he had made a bigger one, but it made the whole street have a power cut so he couldn't use it anymore! I'll never forget it - definitely only in New York.

Which New Yorker do you most admire?
My New York hero is Lou Reed. I just went to see his Berlin show in London and cried the whole way through...the girl choir broke my heart - his lyrics are astounding. I've seen him more than 5 times over the years. I wouldn't like to meet him cause I'd be scared, but I love to admire him from afar.

What's your current soundtrack?
A new band Soulsavers with mark lanegan in it - they're cool and dark and beautiful. and ennio morricone film soundtracks - all that slide guitar, choral stuff and desert imagery is great. Also just discovered a CD that is all the best Sonic Youth songs done by a string octet - perfect!