(NEW YORK) - k.d. lang's seventh Warner Bros. album, Drag, is drawing comparisons to her 1992 platinum-selling smash Ingenue, and that's good news for fans who didn't appreciate her flirtation with primal funk on her last set All You Can Eat. But, true to form, lang has not avoided controversy altogether on her new project. With such songs as Peggy Lee's "Don't Smoke In Bed," Les Paul & Mary Ford's "Smoke Rings," and the Hollies' "The Air That I Breathe," lang indulges on Drag in the pleasures of lighting up. The artist says there's no political motivation behind the concept -- it's more that the idea that tobacco is used as "an escape that stems from deprivations of love" fascinates her. Also featured: lang covering Steve Miller's classic "The Joker." Drag hits retail stores June 10.
(photo courtesy of Paul Natkin)