Cat Power, aka Chan Marshall, recently released her brand new studio album Sun, and to put the proverbial cherry on top of some great news, the musician (and moonlighting actress/model) confirmed she’d be heading to Australia for a tour in 2013.

Triple J first broke the exclusive as the recently returned Music Director, Richard Kingsmill interviewed the Atlanta, Georgia singer/songwriter for his 2012 program; in which Marshall confirmed she’d be appearing down under for a series of summer dates.

“I just confirmed it,” Marshall told Kingsmill, “the last Australian date is February 9th, that’s all I know.”

February, ey? Guess what else typically runs in February 2013?

The event in question is Laneway, the indie fan’s festival du jour, which is traditionally held annually in February and been growing exponentially -nationwide – ever since its inception in 2004. Though organisers are still a ways off from confirming their lineup, they’ve no doubt been working hard on the follow-up to 2011’s strong female-centric lineup.

In fact, Laneway Festival recently tweeted:

With that information, as well as the confirmed Cat Power tour in February next year, we can nearly all but lock in Ms. Marshall for Laneway 2013.

She joins a list of already strong contenders for the festival bill, most of them following a similar pattern of a leaked tour that coincides nicely with Laneway’s summer season.

Chief among them, Divine Fits – the new supergroup from members of Spoon, Wolf Parade and New Bomb Turks – let slip that Australia would be one of the first to witness the new outfit in the live setting, confirming that they’d be headed our way in January next year.

Band member Dan Boeckner, formerly of Wolf Parade and Handsome Furs, locked it in saying: “we will be coming to Australia in January [2013];” adding humorously “unlike Wolf Parade we won’t be cancelling it,” remarking on his band splitting up before they could commit to their 2011 Australian touring plans.

Following the release of their newly-minted debut, A Thing Called Divine Fits, Boeckner – along with Spoon frontman Britt Daniel, New Bomb Turks drummer Sam Brown and keys player Alex Fischel – are near the top of the heap for the rumour mill of Laneway acts.

Another potential shoo-in is everybody’s favourite Brooklyn dance-baiting bohemian outfit, Yeasayer. Chiefly because they were part of the 2011 lineup as well as confirming an Australian tour – also in January 2013 – in the wake of releasing their third album, Fragrant World.

Last but not least is Canadian rock duo Japandroids, who are enjoying some critical praise for their excellent sophomore release, Celebration Rock (you can read the Tone Deaf verdict here).

They’re also hotly-tipped for a Laneway 2013 appearance after guitarist and lead “brocalist” Brian King told music blog Polaroids of Androids: “From what I understand we’re coming in February. Don’t quote me on that quite yet.” Sorry Brian, but we probably will.

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