The Haunted Man

Critic Score
Based on 44 reviews
2012 Ratings: #182 / 1118
Year End Rank: #26
User Score
Based on 289 ratings
2012 Rank: #109
Liked by 15 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

91
Pretty Much Amazing

While it’s hard to tell if Khan’s gentle coo heard throughout is meant to seduce or frighten away, one thing is certain: The Haunted Man is another near masterpiece.

87
Beats Per Minute

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.

85
Under the Radar

Stripped down of any excessive ornamentation, it's the most raw incarnation of Bat For Lashes we've heard yet.

84
Pitchfork

Spacious, boldly orchestrated, and emotionally rich, Khan's latest is another step forward for the multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter, and one of the year's most beguiling albums.

80
Mojo
This album elicits a powerful aura, which continues to resonate potently several hours, even days, after the last note has died.
80
NOW Magazine

The Haunted Man is yearning, elegant pop music in line with the past year's best.

80
Prefix

How can you talk about The Haunted Man without calling it "achingly beautiful"? This is a real problem, and it necessitates a thesaurus.

80
DIY

It’s ... beautiful, daring, and captivating, the sound of pop’s dark heart carving out its own niche and cementing Khan’s status as one of our most inventive, ambitious artists.

80
The Fly
As the title track gradually morphs from delicate ballad to fisherman shanty to blissful climax it's hard not to be awed, even if those casual listeners might not find much to keep them.
80
The 405

The Haunted Man showcases some of her best work, but only in places. 

80
Consequence of Sound

The Haunted Man may not reveal a drastic stylistic shift, but the subtle difference is a nonetheless compelling documentation of the process of metamorphosis. 

80
No Ripcord

There’s an undeniable beauty running throughout the album, but there is also such a comfortable departure from the form of the first two records that it might be too easy for Khan.

80
SPIN

The Haunted Man is her weightiest work so far.

80
NME

For large swathes, it's like being plunged into a fairytale soundtracked by skin-prickling electro and populated by downtrodden sods hunting for breadcrumbs of comfort.

80
Q Magazine

There's clarity on The Haunted Man that comes from the sense of physical boundaries being pushed, of personal space being tested to its limits.

80
PopMatters

The Haunted Man is all about Khan letting her guard down, which you can hear in the yearning pitch of her voice and the bleeding-heart themes of her songs.

80
musicOMH

It’s safe to say that Natasha Khan has once again managed to craft an album that ticks all the boxes, while also showing a maturity and evolution from her Mercury nominated sophomore album.

70
The Needle Drop
On her third full-length effort, singer-songwriter Natasha Khan, a.k.a. Bat For Lashes, brings on more instrumentation and co-producers than ever to bring her moody, mystical art pop to a new level.
70
Slant Magazine

While the album's comparatively restrained arrangements occasionally wilt in the face of Khan's fierce melodrama, The Haunted Man is still a worthy, often gorgeous entry in the Bat for Lashes canon.

70
Uncut

On The Haunted Man she's exorcised some of those ghosts and gone some way to becoming her own woman.

70
Rolling Stone
The visions here seem all her own. And they're pretty awesome.
70
Exclaim!

The Haunted Man is defined by a more refined sensibility, drawing back the playful clatter of her first two albums in favour of sparser arrangements and a slightly elegiac tone.

70
FACT Magazine

For the most part this is a composed, nourishing pop album.

70
AllMusic

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.

70
Drowned in Sound

This effort is laudable, but she sounds best when pushing the envelope. A lively talent like hers shouldn’t be so concealed.

67
A.V. Club

The downside to The Haunted Man being so meticulous is that its songs often feel detached, as though Khan is performing rather than inhabiting the deeply emotional music. 

60
Clash

While every track on ‘The Haunted Man’ is brimming with invention, there’s little to keep you coming back for repeat listens.

60
The Independent
Sometimes the recurrent mood of ecstatic affirmation of life that's evident in her singing can be short-changed by arrangements that fuss to no great purpose, dissipating their impact in brittle beats and pointless detail.
60
The Telegraph

Despite occasionally drawing blood, The Haunted Man doesn't live up to its stripped and dangerous cover, often retreating to gambol about in the backwaters of Khan's imagination.

60
The Observer

The Haunted Man is an assured and sonically seductive record – if only it didn't echo a little too often the sound of other women's work.

60
Paste

While there are moments of exhilarating experimentalism and occasional bits of grasp-the-sky beauty, the overwhelming majority of The Haunted Man is just drab.

musicmagpie55
98

Where Two Suns engaged with lush arrangments, warm production, and traditional instrumentation, The Haunted Man is an icy synth masterpiece that feels like the perfect compliment to her previous album. The glorious worldbuilding that Kahn presented in earlier work is turned inward. Instead of thinking about duality in the world, Kahn considers the duality within herself. How do we inspire ourselves, how do we keep going when everything is difficult, and we feel lost? It is through these ... read more

MAN
55

Heard about this just recently and it's nice :)

TheBravesDH
92

It's astonishing that she was nearly able to top Two Suns, what I would have considered to be an unreachable pinnacle, but here we are. It's a bit more stripped-back instrumentally (still gorgeous), but offers Natasha showing off her most vulnerable and personal lyrics yet. Seem to be a lot of themes of the inner struggle of dealing with your ghosts.

netuniano
81

Lilies - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
All Your Gold - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️
Horses of the Sun - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Oh Yeah - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Laura - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️
Winter Fields - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Haunted Man - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Marilyn - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️
A Wall - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Rest Your Head - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Deep Sea Diver - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Total = ... read more

adelao
87

1 Lilies 6,2
2 All Your Gold 10 *_________*
3 Horses of the Sun 7,3
4 Oh Yeah 9,6
5 Laura 9,2
6 Winter Fields 6,7
7 The Haunted Man 6,4
8 Marilyn 8,9
9 A Wall 6,5
10 Rest Your Head 10 *_______________*
11 Deep Sea Diver 6,3

Kiwo
84

yo bob is fye

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Track List

1Lilies
4:46
99
2All Your Gold
4:32
95
3Horses of the Sun
4:59
91
4Oh Yeah
4:56
100
5Laura
4:26
100
6Winter Fields
3:42
98
7The Haunted Man
5:15
99
8Marilyn
4:35
96
9A Wall
4:01
94
10Rest Your Head
4:04
92
11Deep Sea Diver
6:19
85
Total Length: 51 minutes
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Added on: June 13, 2012