so it's been out for a few weeks now and i've been listening to it every day.

not just occasional songs but the entire album.

i can't really remember when i listened to an album so much in it's entirety.

as much as i love the previous two albums, this one is just perfect. although,

"fur and gold" comes a very close second still.

beyond that there is nothing much i can say that isn't said in this perfectly

worded review below:

“Still I’m holding out my hand/ Standing by my haunted man”

Natasha Khan isn’t playing it close to the chest. On the third studio release from the mastermind behind Bat For Lashes, she’s titled the album The Haunted Man, leaving little to the imagination. But the imagination contained within Khan’s heartbreak minutiae reveals a genius tied to a stake of her own making, burning as a witch who won’t stop summoning her own demons.

Although the record’s opening track “Lillies” hints at golden, delicate-petaled hope, her dreams simply aren’t nurtured enough to open to the sun. Optimism seems to bloom within the elegant horns at the fringes of the song, but aching metaphors are buried in her croons. The record is punctuated by Khan’s decidedly relational perspective and her staccato heart, that despairs endlessly over ghosts only to exalt, later, in the ability to feel that deeply at all.

Khan isn’t defeated–she’s simply resigned to her fate. She’s in love with a ghost, a haunted twisted mess of a man, but her faceted heart works as a prism, reflecting the light of this situation into multi-colored variations on a theme. Instead of feeling tired or sick like Taylor Swift’s spilled ice cream cone style woes, the songs on The Haunted Man fit like sumptuous nightgowns. The songs are expensive in their depth of emotion but comforting in their intimacy and alluring appeal.

Take title track “Haunted Man” or the pseudo-peppy beat of “A Wall.” Khan isn’t singing about hurt pride or bad dating experiences. She vocalizes what it feels like to actually hand over your heart to another human being. I had the pleasure of sit... this fall, and she shared with me that the male choir singing on the title track is a recording of the echo of the music back across a canyon in Northern Italy. How clearly we hear this echo serves as the perfect musical symbol for the record, how clearly we see the object of Natasha’s affections through her songs about him.

“Deep Sea Diver” encapsulates a drowning feeling–the high-tide moment of happiness, that endlessly abates to low tide, darker waters, lack of oxygen. “Rest Your Head” alludes to this too–her desperation to offer some respite–to serve even as protection or pillow. The silken yarns of tracks “Laura” and “Marilyn” exemplify her empathy for women struggling with their own pallid apparitions, but her gaze doesn’t waver from her own specter for very long. The highlight of the record comes in “Oh Yeah,” with a dice-throw of male vocalists echoing “Oh Yeah” behind Natasha’s knife-like wielding of the word “hope,” an endless weapon against her phantom love. The alternating assertions of “I am hope/ Here am I” as stanza beginners situate Natasha within the meshwork of her unwavering sunrise of faith in her unsteady beloved.

It would be a disservice to neglect the musicianship embroidered with needling insistency throughout The Haunted Man. Buoyed by collaborations with the likes of Beck, Dave Sitek and Rob Ellis, the sonic-boom feel of songs as delicate and storied as old lace is a marriage that won’t soon be shaken. If Khan’s last two albums were tapestries, this one is a prayer book, adorned with pictures of the exalted, stained with tears, and almost too personal for the eyes of strangers to look upon. Her amalgam of ethereal strings and electronic noise speaks to the pairing of unlikely elements and their eventual need for one another. Combining the stateliness of reedy wind instruments, dramatic strings and horns with fuzzed out synths brings an alien strangeness to the record that is engrossing, but explorable through her ever-present, all too human, mooning heartbreak.

Natasha can’t let go, and as we listen to The Haunted Man, neither can we. There’s too much majesty in this tragedy, too much treasure invested in a decaying vessel. If we look even closer it becomes apparent that the treasure is Natasha herself. Even as she pours herself out pleading the case for other women, even as she bats at the ghosts that haunt her, even as she sits by the sea and dreams. She may be wounded, robbed of all her gold, but she’s the one with enough strength to keep standing, even with the burden of her wounded love heavy on her shoulders, no end in sight. With the brazen pride of a Greek myth, Natasha may win her victory simply by refusing to give up the fight. Or she may chain herself to an endless task, pushing the boulder of love next to Sisyphus for eternity. Either way, she’s taken a large risk that has turned into a tremendous work of art.

from:

http://beatsperminute.com/reviews/album-review-bat-for-lashes-the-haunted-man/

her voice is just so warm and intimate and it expresses emotion so well.

not since i discovered radiohead and thom yorke's vocals have i fallen in

love so completely with someone's voice.

she could sing pages from the phonebook and i'd still be enthralled.

I have posted about BFL before and no one was interested a fuck.

The new album is great, i'm still getting into it. I seen two of her UK shows just last weekend. She is magical.

Really wanna hear the album....I'm going to see her perform in Brighton in a couple of weeks time. Looking forward to it!

SONNYT said:

Really wanna hear the album....I'm going to see her perform in Brighton in a couple of weeks time. Looking forward to it!

Nice, homecoming gigs are always special.

The two shows I attended were good, I was unwell though, so that possibly added to my luke warm feelings, but I prefered the shows she did with the Two Suns album.

I love her so much. Everything about her. Have not picked up the new album yet, but I've been playing the previous ones a lot until I do.

Hope she does a show I can go to soon. Last time she was in my city, her show was cancelled!

the new album is so good! you really have to pick up a copy if you're at all interested in her.

it's got more beats and the melodies are beautiful. superb singing, as usual and the lyrics,

they're just freakin' amazing.

i say more beats, but it's not a 'cold' sounding album. it's warm and textured with some very

nice strings and other acoustics.

TheDigitalGardener said:

I have posted about BFL before and no one was interested a fuck.

The new album is great, i'm still getting into it. I seen two of her UK shows just last weekend. She is magical.

ah, but that's because she's not beyonce, gaga, britney, janet, mj or new edition.

the rest of the artists out there get a passing glance, at best on the org

IstenSzek said:

TheDigitalGardener said:

I have posted about BFL before and no one was interested a fuck.

The new album is great, i'm still getting into it. I seen two of her UK shows just last weekend. She is magical.

ah, but that's because she's not beyonce, gaga, britney, janet, mj or new edition.

the rest of the artists out there get a passing glance, at best on the org

Indeed, you have a point. Still, each to their own.

Have you heard Ladyhawke? http://ladyhawkemusic.com/ http://www.youtube.com/us...awkeforyou

She is great live too, one of the best shows I've attended this year. You may like her.

thanks for the tip, i will check it out

saw that this was out awhile back. love her first 2. completely slipped my mind to pick this up.

I'll be buying the new album for the cover art alone.

I like the album! not my favorite by them.. but i really dig it

These guys have really been something since i heard about them in 09, Deep Sea River is my fav

Bat & Karen O are imo THE female icosn of the indie rock scene of the 00's

[Edited 10/26/12 10:41am]

IstenSzek said:

Love this song!

Love her new album. It's one of only a handful of new releases I enjoy from beginning to end.

Wowugotit said:

Love her new album. It's one of only a handful of new releases I enjoy from beginning to end.

This is a short film about the making of the new album. Much like the film that was made for the Two Suns deluxe edition release....

It's the same with me; it's the entire album.
<3

TheDigitalGardener said:

Have you heard Ladyhawke? http://ladyhawkemusic.com/ http://www.youtube.com/us...awkeforyou

She is great live too, one of the best shows I've attended this year. You may like her.

Ladyhawke fan here. I've seen her live twice in small venues here and the gigs were good, but I don't recall anything exceptional to the point that they were the best I'd seen each year. What did you like so much about them?

[Edited 10/29/12 10:32am]

sexton said:

TheDigitalGardener said:

Have you heard Ladyhawke? http://ladyhawkemusic.com/ http://www.youtube.com/us...awkeforyou

She is great live too, one of the best shows I've attended this year. You may like her.

Ladyhawke fan here. I've seen her live twice in small venues here and the gigs were good, but I don't recall anything exceptional to the point that they were the best I'd seen each year. What did you like so much about them?

[Edited 10/29/12 10:32am]

I said they were one of the best I had seen this year. I've only attended a few shows this year. It was a small venue, right down the front, great songs, great band, and I was probably a little tipsy!

TheDigitalGardener said:

sexton said:

Ladyhawke fan here. I've seen her live twice in small venues here and the gigs were good, but I don't recall anything exceptional to the point that they were the best I'd seen each year. What did you like so much about them?

[Edited 10/29/12 10:32am]

I said they were one of the best I had seen this year. I've only attended a few shows this year. It was a small venue, right down the front, great songs, great band, and I was probably a little tipsy!

I understand now.

Ok - I finally broke down and bought the entire CD and its is AWESOME!

I was a fringe fan a few years ago and now am full on into Bat for Lashes.

The entire CD is practically flawless and full of great music!!!

The album is great...Saw her play the majority of it in Brighton (UK) a while back at a homecoming gig. What a performance that was and her vocals were amazing. Definately got a soft spot for Bat For Lashes.

Need to add this to my to do list.