Just one month on from the release of her latest single, “Dark Parts”, Megan Washington has officially announced the release of Batflowers, her first new album since 2014.
The road to Washington’s album has been a long and storied one. While new singles have emerged over the last few years, no details regarding a new record had been revealed alongside them.
Previously given the working title of Sugardoom (and featuring a “lush, ’60s-inspired” sound), collaborations with the likes of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra preceded the announcement that the new album would arrive in early 2019 with a different name.
However, following the release of “Dark Parts” in May, the chaotic piece of music saw the fun-loving Washington reveal that her new album would finally arrive in late August, with Batflowers formally being announced today.
Described as “an exercise in getting to the raw guts of why anyone makes music at all”, Batflowers sees Washington taking the charge in the majority of the creative process.
Harnessing what is likened to “Kanye-esque confidence”, the ARIA Award-winner has spearheaded almost every aspect of the new record, including songwriting, art direction, photography, frame-by frame hand animation, engineering, A&R, and music video directing.
“I’ve realised this is where I’m strongest – being given complete trust and full creative freedom in my work,” Washington explained of the process. “My incredible team enabled me to be involved on every level of the creative process and let me get as weird as I want. It’s a fantastic feeling.”
Hand-picking acclaimed producers such as John Congleton (Moses Sumney, St Vincent, Angel Olsen), Dave Hammer (Jess Kent, Mia Rodriguez, Genesis Owusu), and Japanese Wallpaper (Mallrat, Allday), Batflowers also boasts guest appearances from the likes of Sam Fischer and Stella Mozgawa (Warpaint).
“The album in full is very narrative and to me it works like the soundtrack to a musical,” Washington adds. “Aside from the actual songs, there is a lot of sound design and audio-cinema including a thunderstorm, birdsong, dreamscapes and 500 year-old church bells.
“It was written and recorded all over the world from Joshua Tree in California, Switzerland, Berlin, Adelaide, and finished during lockdown on Minjerribah (Stradbroke Island). I also had to record some vocals inside a rental car.”
Batflowers is officially set to be released on August 28th, with Megan Washington also releasing the official video for “Dark Parts” alongside the announcement.
