2006–2008: Fur and Gold in 2007, promoting
Fur and Gold Khan's debut single, "The Wizard", was released digitally through
Drowned in Sound records and on 7" vinyl through Khan's own imprint, She Bear Records. In 2006, she signed to
Echo, a record label owned by independent publisher
Chrysalis Music that acted as an incubator for artists before "upstreaming" them to major labels. Echo released her debut album,
Fur and Gold, in September 2006. In 2007, Bat for Lashes and Echo signed an international licensing deal with
Parlophone Records, which re-released
Fur and Gold the same year. A limited vinyl version was released by Los Angeles indie label
Manimal Vinyl in May 2007.
Fur and Gold reached number forty-eight on the
UK Albums Chart and has since been certified gold by the
BPI for sales exceeding 100,000 copies. In 2007, Khan appeared at the
Glastonbury Festival and toured the United States.
Fur and Gold received critical acclaim, including a five-star review from
The Guardian. It was shortlisted for the 2007
Mercury Prize, losing out to
Klaxons'
Myths of the Near Future, despite being a favourite of British media to win the award. Also in 2007, the
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) bestowed their Vanguard Award on her and chose her to perform at their "ASCAP Presents..." showcase at
South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. In 2008, Khan was nominated for British Breakthrough Act and British Female Solo Artist at the
Brit Awards.
Radiohead's 2008 tour featured several shows with Bat for Lashes as their opening act. Her version of
the Cure's "
A Forest" appeared on a charity album called
Perfect as Cats on Manimal Vinyl in late 2008.
2009–2011: Two Suns Khan's second album,
Two Suns, was released in April 2009 and produced by Khan and
David Kosten. In preparation for the album, Khan journeyed to
Joshua Tree Desert in California to gain inspiration, before returning to New York and London to write and record the finished material for release.
Two Suns focuses on Khan's desert-born
alter ego Pearl, whose personality she adopted while staying in New York to gain a better understanding of the character. She revealed to the
BBC's
Newsbeat, "I really just did it as an experiment of dressing up myself with quite garish extreme feminine make-up. I wanted to photograph myself in that situation and just see what it made me feel." Khan believed that living in
Brooklyn when bands such as
TV on the Radio,
MGMT, and
Gang Gang Dance were emerging on the music scene had an influence on the album's musical style. In an interview with
MTV, she said, "I experienced that whole thing coming out, in terms of beats and like going out dancing and checking out all this new music, it was really inspiring."
Two Suns debuted at number five on the
UK Albums Chart, and has been certified gold by the
BPI for sales of 100,000 copies. it later won the
Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song and was nominated for the
MTV Video Music Award for Breakthrough Video of the Year. The following singles were "
Pearl's Dream" and a double A-side of "
Sleep Alone" and "Moon and Moon", the latter of which was featured in a high-profile advertising campaign for children's charity
Barnardo's in late 2009. Critical response to the album was mostly favourable, generating a score of 77 on the review aggregator
Metacritic. In their review for
Two Suns,
NME awarded it 8 out of 10, describing the album as "epic in scope and ambition and requires a similarly epic patience to unravel its charms."
Rolling Stone also rated it favourably, stating "Khan proves she's a powerhouse under her billowy sleeves. She could be the next
Kate Bush." However, some critics such as
PopMatters found problems: reviewing the album, they wrote, "While the weaker songs are definitely not throwaways, they miss the mark in more than one way."
Blender magazine also felt the album was average, awarding it 3 out 5 stars, saying, "The contrast between Pearl and Natasha isn't always crisply drawn". As with
Fur and Gold, Khan was nominated for the Mercury Prize for
Two Suns. In 2010, she won Best Alternative Act at the
UK Asian Music Awards and received a second BRIT Award nomination for British Female Solo Artist. As part of the 2009 summer festival season, Khan played at
Glastonbury,
Somerset House, and the
iTunes Festival. In September 2009, a special edition of
Two Suns was released in the United Kingdom ahead of Khan's October tour. The special edition, which included a cover version of the
Kings of Leon single "
Use Somebody", was released simultaneously in the United States. Later in 2009, the cover artwork for
Two Suns was nominated for Best Art Vinyl. In early 2010, Khan toured South America supporting
Coldplay after a gig at
The De La Warr Pavilion, including playing covers of Radiohead's "All I Need" and
the Cure's "Lullaby". In 2010, she collaborated with
Beck on the track "Let's Get Lost" for the
Twilight Saga: Eclipse soundtrack, and contributed the song "Sleep Alone" from
Two Suns to the
Enough Project and
Downtown Records'
Raise Hope for Congo compilation. Proceeds from the compilation funded efforts to make the
protection and empowerment of Congo's women a priority, as well as to inspire individuals around the world to raise their voice for
peace in Congo. For
Record Store Day 2010, Bat for Lashes released an exclusive double A-side 7" single comprising a live performance of the "Trophy" single B-side "Howl", recorded at De La Warr Pavilion, and a cover of "
Wild Is the Wind", originally written by
Dimitri Tiomkin and
Ned Washington. In 2011, Khan recorded a cover version of
Depeche Mode's "
Strangelove" for a
Gucci advertising campaign. The song was released as a free download from Gucci's YouTube channel and various blogs. In June 2011, Khan performed two shows at the
Sydney Opera House as part of the Vivid LIVE Arts Festival, her only performances of the year.
2012–2014: The Haunted Man The third Bat for Lashes album,
The Haunted Man, was released in October 2012 in the UK. The lead single, "
Laura", was released in July; the second single, "All Your Gold", came out in September.
The Haunted Man debuted at number six on the UK Albums Chart, Khan's second consecutive top-ten album, and has since been certified Silver by the BPI for selling 60,000 copies. On 2 September 2013, Khan premiered the track "Garden's Heart", a collaboration with
Jon Hopkins for the soundtrack to the film
How I Live Now. In 2014, Khan collaborated with
Damon Albarn on a track for his 2014 solo album
Everyday Robots, premiered "Skin Song" from
Body of Songs—a compilation album featuring songs inspired by anatomy and medical science—and contributed a cover of "Plan the Escape" by
Son Lux to
the soundtrack album of the film
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1.
2015: Sexwitch On 15 August 2015, Khan began previewing new music on her
Twitter and
Instagram pages via a game of
Hangman. During a surprise
Green Man Festival set in Wales on 22 August, she debuted a music project with producer
Dan Carey and the band Toy, called
Sexwitch. Two days later, it was announced that Sexwitch's eponymous debut album would be released on 25 September 2015 by Echo and
BMG, consisting of six covers of 1970s
psychedelic and
folk songs from different parts of the world.
2016: The Bride On 19 February 2016, a new song, "I Do", was released on YouTube with a picture of a
wedding invitation reading "Save The Date 1st July 2016". The track was made available for purchase the same day. On 11 March, Khan released "In God's House", the lead single from her fourth studio album,
The Bride, which was released on 1 July and later nominated for the 2016
Mercury Music Prize.
2019: Lost Girls On 10 June 2019, the album
Lost Girls was announced and the song "Kids in the Dark" was released on YouTube.
Lost Girls was released on 6 September 2019.
2024: The Dream of Delphi Khan released the title track from her sixth album,
The Dream of Delphi, on 22 February 2024. The album was released on 31 May 2024, and an English tour followed in June. The album reflects on the conception and birth of Khan's daughter, Delphi, during the
2020 COVID-19 pandemic.{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pQbvmEtsOM|title=Bat for Lashes on motherhood, creation and embodiment ==Artistry==