[Hot Video Alert] Katie Melua – Moonshine

“Moonshine” will be the third single off of Katie Melua‘s fifth studio album, Secret Symphony, which was released March 5th on longtime label, Dramatico Records.  Secret Symphony is her ‘singer’s album,” and sees Melua reunite with longtime collaborator, songwriter/producer Mike Batt.  Featuring a mix of both covers and originals, the album definitely stands firmly as one of Melua’s best works to date, both vocally and from a songwriter’s perspective.  According to Katie,

“Singing other people’s songs brings something out of you and your voice that isn’t perhaps where you would have gone vocally with your own material.  It stretches you. As it happened, Mike andd I did write a couple of new ones, but the general idea was to find songs by great writers such as Ron Sexsmith (‘Gold in Them Hills’) and a favourite song of mine, originally recorded by Bonnie Raitt (‘Too Long At The Fair’) plus some more well-known ones like ‘Keeping The Dream Alive.'”

The album’s lead single, “Better Than A Dream” was originally recorded by Batt for 90s animated TV series, The Dreamstone.  Following it’s release, Secret Symphony debuted at #8 on the UK Albums Chart with just over 19,000 copies sold in it’s first week.  As of yet, none of Melua’s singles have charted in the UK.  No word on “Moonshine“‘s official release date, but with the release today of the music video, we should be hearing something soon.

In the whimsical “Moonshine” video, Katie sings and strums her guitar in front a number of stunning backdrops including a beautifully mysterious moonlit sky.  Katie looks gorgeous as ever in the clip, her raven black hair worn down, dressed in white. Simply ravishing.  The video was shot against a homemade green screen (“a big roll of green paper suspended from a couple of poles“) in Mike Batt‘s front room, and features breathtaking artwork from John Gosler, Dramatico Records‘ own art director.  Check out Mike Batt‘s blog for some more info on the making of this brilliant and beautiful video.

Katie Melua‘s Secret Symphony album is available at digital retailers everywhere (iTunes US/iTunes UK).

UPDATE: You can now watch “Moonshine” on YouTube if this MSN video isn’t working for you.