"Bats" was written by Paul Dempsey, who composed the music and wrote the lyrics. It is the opening track of Everything Is True, Dempsey's debut solo album, released in 2009. Dempsey is an Australian singer-songwriter born in Melbourne in 1976, and he had previously been the lead singer of Something for Kate. The album is classified in the rock genre, with alternative rock and indie rock as its styles, and the song is in the key of E-flat.
Dempsey's original recording was made in August 2009, and live versions of the song from 2009 and 2010 are also documented. English-language discography listings give 2010 as the year of the song's release as a single, without a chart position.
