“The whole energy of the album feels like a 12-6am therapy session,” begins folk noir singer songwriter Tanya Batt, who records under the name BATTS. The Essex-raised, Mitcham-based talent has just released her second album, The Nightline, which sees the low-key artist embrace a sound that feels like we’re eavesdropping on a Bat For Lashes jam session with The Motels in a deserted hotel lobby.
As fate would have it, eavesdropping played a big role in her new songs. Batt attended the first night of RISING Festival in 2021 before the whole shebang was cancelled. The Nightline Project invited the city’s insomniacs, night owls and dreamers to leave voicemail messages from midnight-6am.
BATTS (Tanya Batts)Credit:Lisa Businovski
“I got into the only show then the whole city went into lockdown; it was serendipitous,” she says. “I was listening to all these messages. A lot of the people calling were COVID nurses, some were working in the labs on the vaccine. One guy was quite elderly and someone had broken into his house and he hadn’t been able to sleep. Others called to vent about their love life.” Rich subject material.
The Nightline is a heady concept album that manifests itself in breezy and dusty country grooves (Free, Blue featuring Sharon Van Etten), naked torch songs (Keeping On) and achingly beautiful moments such as when she sings “I don’t love anything that I used to love before/ Nothing makes sense to me anymore” (Linger featuring Deep Sea Diver).
Her debut album The Grand Tour came together thematically when she fired off an email to NASA (yes, the NASA) asking if she could use samples of space probe Voyager 1’s mission from the late-1970s. They said yes, she wove the ethereal sounds into each song and stuck the proverbial landing.
BATTS had a few other things going on for this album: a well of grief after losing her father-in-law and a diagnosis of two debilitating physical conditions, Vestibular Migraines and PPPD (Persistent Postural-Perceptual Dizziness). “I get vertigo. Today I’m very foggy. I work with a team of specialists. It’s been enlightening to be diagnosed after having to live in this body.”
Music helps. “I sing every day. I’ll walk in and pick up the guitar and start playing. That feels such a twattish thing to say,” she laughs.
Tanya Batts, who performs under the name BATTS.Credit:Adam Dean
At the start of the year, she signed to local label Mistletone, launched her own imprint I Feel Fine Records for her UK releases, toured with Cate Le Bon and Vika & Linda then released Blue, a sumptuous slow-burn duet with US heavy-hitter Sharon Van Etten. Blue was added to the Double J rotation – now BATTS will be supporting the indie titan on her Australian tour in December.
It was another case of Batt showing some initiative. She pitched for Van Etten’s European tour support slot in 2019 and got the gig. “She came and knocked on my door before the first show and said, ‘I’m so excited to meet you, can I get a photo?’ I was like ‘What is happening?’ We really clicked. Then I reached out and asked her to write a song with me. I wasn’t in a great place and I needed her to hold my hand.” Van Etten suggested Batt send some ideas over quick smart.
“I wrote five songs that day including Blue and felt, ‘That’s the one.’ She wrote a verse and sent it over and it was perfect.”
Van Etten is equally effusive with praise. “Tanya was a bright, huge light who wanted to let everyone in,” she says. “It felt quite natural to want to feel included in this group hug that was nurturing everyone around her.
For the rest of Nightline, Batt and her band decamped to the welcoming bush of Pakenham Upper to record.
“I’d watch these two horses sleep laying down: Tommy and Daggy. I would ask myself ‘Are they dead?’ They had a fun thing they did we called The Stick Game. It would take me out of my own head and change my mood completely.”
Despite her health issues and lingering grief, Batt is sounding positive about the future. After she supports Van Etten, she’ll be getting married, having her honeymoon at Meredith Music Festival then headlining her album launch on January 13 at Howler.
“I’ll be playing more lead parts. I’ve been learning slide guitar – it’s fun but it really hurts. There’ll be lots of special guests,” she says, then becomes reflective, “I hope all these people are OK with me using their stories on Nightline. Everyone in the world should have access to therapy. We’d all be happier.”
BATTS’ Nightline is out now through Mistletone. She will be supporting Sharon Van Etten at Northcote Theatre from December 8-9, and performing with her band at Howler on January 13.
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