When I first caught a glimpse of the new Bat For Lashes cover, featuring Natasha Khan in the buff, holding an also naked man over her shoulders, I was fleetingly concerned. What is this art school tomfoolery? Considering her art school pedigree I gave it the pass and was intrigued--what happened to this lady to inspire man straddling? This was one of the first hints that she was taking a slightly different tack with this set of songs. More proof came with "Laura," the soft, spare ballad she picked to be the album's lead single. While Khan explored her flair with character studies on Two Suns, this song's intimacy and the keenly observed details in lyrics like "your tears feel hot on my bedsheets" felt more like a natural progression from songs like "Sad Eyes," off of Fur and Gold. As that album (and Two Suns' more restrained moments) showed, Khan's singing and writing are more than strong enough to be more or less naked, and she finds freedom in this throughout most of The Haunted Man. It seems that this album is a reaction to a break up post Two Suns, where classically the chanteuse is in love and her lover is her equal and muse, which leads to the inevitable fraying of the spirit due to heartache. Yet the lyrics go beyond one man, she digs into issues with her father as well. Feeling alive is a refrain on many of these songs, most vividly on the proudly sexual "Oh Yeah," where Khan is "waiting like a flower to open wide" and the unearthliness of her upper register adds a fairytale sparkle to her desire. This mix of rawness and delicacy makes her among the best of all the Kate Bush disciples dotting the early 21st century pop landscape at emulating the will-o-the-wisp willfulness of La Bush's work, particularly on the silvery, shivery opening track "Lilies" and "Winter Fields," which soars above the English countryside with just a little bit of fear shading its wonder. When The Haunted Man strays from these sparer sounds, the results are mixed: the tribal/primal rhythms and vocals on "Horses of the Sun" add to its rough-hewn beauty, but the electronic squiggles and processed vocals on "Marilyn" are distracting and indulgent. Still, much of The Haunted Man caters to Khan's strengths, and songs such as "All Your Gold," "A Wall," and "Rest Your Head" are among the catchiest she's written in some time. Focus and restraint might not sound exciting in and of themselves, but The Haunted Man is more direct than any of Bat for Lashes' previous work, and manages to keep the air of mystique around Khan that has made her one to watch and listen to since her early days. Fans of electronic music may have more to latch on to with this one, also fans of Florence & The Machine and Lykke Li. buy your copy of The Haunted Man here.

Hail Bop

If there's a hole in your heart left by the absence of the Beta Band, well, look no further, because Django Django is here! "Our name has absolutely nothing to do with Django Reinhardt", says the band. By the time of the release of the July 2009 debut 7" "Storm," critics had already latched onto their vocal and experimental similarity to cult folktronica pioneers the Beta Band. In fact, drummer Maclean was the younger brother of Beta Band and Aliens keyboard player John Maclean -- a link that both raised their profile and justified the comparisons. Django Django similarly betrayed a knowledge and love of electronic music and Joe Meek's production techniques, alongside an ability to throw together seemingly disparate styles. Filled with sirens, bells, and surf guitar, their second single -- April 2010's "Wor" -- sounded like the Ventures jamming with Hot Chip. While friend and Glaswegian video artist Cara Tolmie provided vocals and cello on the equally playful flip, "Skies Over Cairo," Grace designed the minimalist artwork that housed this inventive material. The group's self-titled debut arrived in 2012 and was a Mercury Prize nominee. Take a poppy listen here: If you want a copy of the self-titled Django Django release, email marta@alternativemusic.com