Bat For Lashes release video for new single “Laura”, album art and tour

Natasha Khan bka Bat for Lashes is returning to soundtrack your ennui with a video for her new single “Laura,” a tour, and the cover art for her new album The Haunted Man, which you can see above. Photoed by Ryan McGinley, it recreates this also-sexy photo of his, except this one is slightly less revealing and features Khan with some boy she’s just killed.

“Laura” is a lugubrious but never deadening tribute, a near-desperate piano-driven imploration for a friend to find the self-worth that’s so clear to others. Khan’s voice does its powerful, shattering best to project her own perceptions onto the titular character, which are, strangely, not undercut by the notes of pity in the lyrics. The video treats Laura as an elderly trans-person who’s forced to watch a bunch of nubile sexies cavort on stage before getting up the courage to step on the table and bust some interpretive dance of her own.

The Haunted Man is out October 23rd in the US via Capitol and the 15th in the UK on Parlophone. Khan and “The Bat For Lashes Big Time Funker Bumper Band!!” (not a real thing) will also be touring Europe later this year. Dates for that below the video and single’s stream.

Tour Dates:

09-02 – Stradbally, Ireland – Electric Picnic
09-09 – Isle of Wight, England – Bestival
10-18 – Inverness, Scotland – Ironworks
10-19 – Edinburgh, Scotland – Picture House
10-21 – Glasgow, Scotland – O2 ABC
10-22 – Manchester, England – Cathedral
10-25 – Leeds, England – Metropolitan University
10-26 – Norwich, England – University of East Anglia
10-28 – Leicester, England – O2 Academy
10-29 – London, England – Forum
11-01 – Birmingham, England – HMV Institute
11-02 – Bristol, England – Anson Rooms
11-03 – Portsmouth, England – Pyramids
11-04 – Brighton, England – Dome Concert Hall
11-15 – Berlin, Germany – Huxleys
11-18 – Zurich, Switzerland – Rotefabrik
11-19 – Milan, Italy – Alcatraz
11-20 – Lausanne, Switzerland – Les Docks
11-22 – Barcelona, Spain – Apolo
11-23 – Madrid, Spain – Teatro Kapital
11-25 – Paris, France – Le Trianon
11-26 – Lille, France – Le Spendid
11-27 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Paradiso
11-29 – Brussels, Belgium – Ancienne Belgique