Bat For Lashes, the musical nom de plume for singer/songwriter Natasha Khan, has revealed the artwork for forthcoming third album, The Haunted Man, and along with it some of herself as well.
Press shots leading up to the album taken by photographer Ryan McGinley have depicted Khan spotting a Hollywood styled bob, in stark black and white tones and Khan has now posed nude for the cover of her upcoming record, due for release in October (its one of our most anticipated release of the year).
Along with the vulnerable artwork, we also have the first taste of The Haunted Man in the suitably haunting ballad, ‘Laura’ and its stage-centric video. Depicting Khan stalking the wings of a theatre with an old drag queen.
Sonically the track is a spare piano ballad that frames Khan’s delicate vocals, with a minimal string accompaniment as an ambiguous lyric about the titular “superstar” ‘Laura’ as Khan sings “you were the train that crashed my heart/you’re the glitter in the dark”
The performer has spent the last year-and-a-half working on her third LP, the follow-up to 2009’s Two Suns, only recently making her return to touring; while ‘Laura’ marks her first official recordings since she teamed up with everybody’s favourite musical chameleon, Beck, for the Twilight: Eclipse soundtrack two years ago.
A brand new album also presents another opportunity for Bat For Lashes to tour nationally down under, though Khan and her musical cohorts made their Australian debut at Sydney’s Opera House last year as part of VIVID Live, but a full national tour would mark a first for the artist.
We can think of one potential opportunity. Given that fellow musical buddy Beck is headlining and the fact the bill could use a bit more of a female presence, Harvest Festival seems like it could be a shoe-in; especially given that there’s a potential second round announcement for the music festival just around the corner…
You can view the NSFW cover of The Haunted Man below, as well as the video for new single ‘Laura’:
