Haunted is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Poe, released in 2000 after a five-year hiatus from her debut album Hello in 1995. The self-produced album was created as a tribute to her father, and counterpart to her brother Mark Z. Danielewski's novel House of Leaves.
In April 2019, eOne Music released Haunted on vinyl for the first time as an exclusive through Books-A-Million.
Overview
The album features samples of audio cassettes made by Poe's father, film director Tad Danielewski. The cassettes, containing audio from Tad to Poe and her brother Mark from as far back as their births, were found by Poe and Mark after their father died. Thus, the album is usually interpreted as a real woman (Poe) singing tributes to her deceased father (who sings back) while telling the story of a group of fictional characters (from House of Leaves).
History
Haunted found Poe combining traditional pop notions with electronic, dance and hard rock music. The album was a critical success. The song "Hey Pretty" was released as a promotional single, but Poe's vocals had been replaced with a chapter reading from her brother. It reached 13 on Billboard's US Modern Rock chart. "Wild" was planned as a third single, garnering some radio play in the Chicago area after a promotional edit was released. The single was never released commercially but featured a shorter radio mix in addition to an acoustic/rock version of the song.