Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	78/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The A.V. Club	B+
The Daily Telegraph
DIY
The Guardian
NME	4/5
Pitchfork	7.6/10
Q
Rolling Stone
Slant Magazine

The Bride is the fourth studio album by English singer-songwriter Natasha Khan, professionally known as Bat for Lashes. It was released on 1 July 2016 by Parlophone. The album was produced by Khan, with co-production from Ben Christophers, Simone Felice, David Baron, Dan Carey, Jacknife Lee and Matt "Aqualung" Hales. The Bride was preceded by the digital promotional release "I Do", then followed by the singles "In God's House", "Sunday Love", "Joe's Dream", and the double A-side release of "If I Knew" and "In Your Bed".

While promoting her side project Sexwitch, which she formed with Dan Carey and the indie rock band Toy, Khan stated that she was working on a new album. She stated that it was linked to a short film she had made about a woman going through a tragedy on her wedding day and that the album would be hopefully released in spring of 2016. In February 2016, Khan started posting preview photos from her collaboration with photographer Neil Krug. On 19 February 2016, she released a promotional single titled "I Do" with cryptic artwork stating "Save the Date, 1st July 2016". The lead single from the album, "In God's House", debuted on Annie Mac's BBC Radio 1 show on 10 March, and was released digitally the following day.

According to The Bride's press release, the work is a concept album that follows the story of a woman, whose fiancé dies in a car crash on the way to their wedding. The album follows her as she decides to go on the honeymoon alone and her emotions as she deals with the tragedy. Khan commented that "the trauma and the grief from the death of Joe, the groom, ... [is] ... more of a metaphor and it allows me to explore the concept of love in general, which requires a death of sorts."

The album was created with past collaborators Simone Felice, Dan Carey, Head and Ben Christophers. Release of the album was preceded by the singles "In God's House" and "Sunday Love", both with music videos directed by Khan herself and John DeMenil. To promote the album, Bat for Lashes embarked on a small tour which consisted of performing in a number of churches to match the wedding theme. Fans and attendees were asked to wear formal attire to the shows. The album's artwork was made in collaboration with photographer Neil Krug and was shot over the course of a year. The CD and vinyl feature a booklet and prints of the photos from this collaboration.

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Wikipedia