diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 635f7f1..c0cb58f 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -220,6 +220,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "async-channel",
  "base16ct",
  "bindgen",
+ "bytes",
  "chrono",
  "event-listener",
  "futures",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index f08ba96..fbbbd1c 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ edition = "2021"
 adw = { version = "0.7.0", package = "libadwaita", features = ["v1_6"] }
 async-channel = "2.3.1"
 base16ct = { version = "0.2.0", features = ["std"] }
+bytes = "1.8.0"
 chrono = { version = "0.4.38", features = ["serde"] }
 event-listener = "5.3.1"
 futures = "0.3.31"
diff --git a/src/subsonic.rs b/src/subsonic.rs
index 3f3b9bc..83c8680 100644
--- a/src/subsonic.rs
+++ b/src/subsonic.rs
@@ -181,6 +181,29 @@ impl Client {
         self.url(&["rest", "coverArt"], &[("id", id)])
     }
 
+    pub async fn cover_art(&self, id: &str) -> Result<bytes::Bytes, Error> {
+        let (sender, receiver) = async_channel::bounded(1);
+
+        let future = self.client.get(self.cover_art_url(id)).send();
+        runtime().spawn(async move {
+            async fn perform(
+                response: Result<reqwest::Response, reqwest::Error>,
+            ) -> Result<bytes::Bytes, Error> {
+                Ok(response?.error_for_status()?.bytes().await?)
+            }
+
+            sender
+                .send(perform(future.await).await)
+                .await
+                .expect("could not send cover art bytes back to the main loop");
+        });
+
+        receiver
+            .recv()
+            .await
+            .expect("could not receive cover art bytes from tokio")
+    }
+
     pub fn stream_url(&self, id: &str) -> url::Url {
         self.url(&["rest", "stream"], &[("id", id)])
     }
diff --git a/src/ui/window.rs b/src/ui/window.rs
index a071a3c..2170b9f 100644
--- a/src/ui/window.rs
+++ b/src/ui/window.rs
@@ -61,6 +61,8 @@ mod imp {
         pub(crate) initial_setup_handle: RefCell<Option<JoinHandle<()>>>,
         mpv_event_loop_handle: RefCell<Option<JoinHandle<()>>>, // really !, not ()
         zbus_executor_loop_handle: RefCell<Option<JoinHandle<()>>>, // same
+
+        loading_cover_handle: RefCell<Option<JoinHandle<Option<gdk::Paintable>>>>,
     }
 
     impl Default for Window {
@@ -111,6 +113,8 @@ mod imp {
                 initial_setup_handle: Default::default(),
                 mpv_event_loop_handle: Default::default(),
                 zbus_executor_loop_handle: Default::default(),
+
+                loading_cover_handle: Default::default(),
             }
         }
     }
@@ -205,7 +209,16 @@ mod imp {
                                 event!(Level::INFO, "start file event");
                                 window.notify("song");
                                 window.imp().buffering_start();
-                                // TODO: load cover art
+
+                                /*
+                                let window = window.clone();
+                                window
+                                    .imp()
+                                    .loading_cover_handle
+                                    .replace(Some(glib::spawn_future_local(
+                                        async move { todo!() },
+                                    )))
+                                    .map(|handle| handle.abort());*/
                             }
 
                             Event::Hook(event) => match event.reply_userdata {