| Haley Bonar — Impossible Dream (5th aug 2016) |
Haley Bonar — Impossible Dream (5th aug 2016) 
•→ St. Paul–based singer/songwriter in the same musical orbit as the dreamy Minnesotans Low.
•→ Haley Bonar’s Impossible Dream is a brisk half–hour of barbed power–pop tunes that sting so sweetly that it’s only after the fact you consider you might need a tetanus shot.
•→ From Europe Tour (13x): Oct 14 Privatclub Berlin, Germany
Born: April 22, 1983 in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
Location: St. Paul, Minnesota
Album release: 5th aug 2016
Record Label: Gndwire Records/Thirty Tigers/Memphis Industries
Duration: 31:49
Tracks:
01 Hometown 3:05
02 Your Mom Is Right 3:30
03 Kismet Kill 3:29
04 I Can Change 3:13
05 Stupid Face 3:31
06 Called You Queen 3:20
07 Jealous Girls 3:00
08 Skynz 2:55
09 Better Than Me 3:14
10 Blue Diamonds Fall 2:32
© 2016 Haley Bonar
Credits:
♠ Haley Bonar Composer, Guitar (Ac), Guitar (El), Producer, Synthesizer, Vocals
♠ Chris Coady Mixing
♠ Sam Gordon Layout
♠ Jacob Hanson Bass, Guitar (Electric), Producer
♠ Jeremy Hanson Drums, Percussion
♠ Torey Hanson Paintings
♠ Robbie Lackritz Mixing
♠ Huntley Miller Mastering
♠ Alec Soth Photography
♠ Nick Tveitbakk Engineer
♠ Jeremy Ylvisaker Bass, Guitar (Electric), Synthesizer
AllMusic Review by Marcy Donelson; Score: ****
•→ Still in her early thirties but with over a decade as a touring musician under her belt by the time of her sixth solo album, Haley Bonar brings a world–weary point of view to Impossible Dream. It’s a record that’s burdened with doubt in the quest for happiness, along with a certain amount of self–loathing (“I was impossible when I was beautiful”). The lyrics are accompanied by the more robust, indie rock sound she brought to her prior album, 2014’s Last War. Fans of that release likely won’t be disappointed, as Bonar delivers more well–crafted, catchy gems here. “Kismet Kill” evokes girl groups of another era amid post–punk guitars that rumble under a breezy melody. The song looks back on youth from post–motherhood. The punky drums and guitars of “Called You Queen” veil a lyrical melancholy that has her singing of “a lack of serotonin that shakes your brain.” (“Excuse me, sir, do you have a light/I know that I can be dark.”) Opening with acoustic guitar and drums, and eventually gathering electric guitars and synths, “I Can Change” is a sparser, more reflective number. The title is both encouraging and cynical in the context of its lyrics. Though open to interpretation, if happiness is the “impossible dream,” the album closes with “Blue Diamonds Fall,” a jaunty tune in which the protagonist acknowledges “I’m terrified and underpaid.” It ends with a repeated — and loaded — “You can be whatever you like.” These lyrics, Bonar’s somewhat sullen delivery, her knack for melodies and phrasing, and the full–band sound she’s grown into work together for a set of songs that stick and hold up to repeat plays.
Also:
By Evan Rytlewski, AUGUST 4 2016; Score. 6.8
•→ http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/22187-impossible-dream/
Written By Hal Horowitz // August 4, 2016 // Score: 4ú5
•→ https://americansongwriter.com/2016/08/haley-bonar-impossible-dream/
Label: http://www.memphis–industries.com/
Website: http://www.haleybonar.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/haleybonar
Bandcamp: http://haleybonar.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HaleyBonarMusic/
© HALEY BONAR LAKE GT 2
Bio Haley Bonar
•→ haley bonar had already recorded an album as a teenager before leaving rapid city, sd for duluth, mn — where she immediately recorded again. alan sparhawk heard her at a local iron range club one night and a week later, she was transformed from a college student to an ambitious dropout with her guitar and a drummer crammed into a honda civic opening for low. she was nineteen years old.
•→ it’s no accident that her creative prowess has also drawn the attention and respect of fellow collaborators like dave king, Andrew Bird and Justin Vernon, not to mention the company she keeps in a rotating cast of premium band members including jake hanson (halloween alaska, mason jennings), jeremy hanson (tapes ‘n tapes), luke anderson (rogue valley), jeremy ylvisaker (andrew bird, alpha consumer) and mike lewis (bon iver, alpha consumer).
•→ haley’s musical adventure took on a passenger in the wack theatrics of her no/new–wave punkish side project gramma’s boyfriend with an attention–getting album already behind them and an audience building in front of them. she is always throwing a curve ball or adding another dimension, akin to her heroes: Joni Mitchell, Mark Mothersbaugh, Laurie Anderson, Amy Sedaris, Maria Bamford, Louis C.K., Margaret Atwood and Cookie Mueller. like them, she remains true to her artistry regardless of trend, politic or scripted gender barriers.
•→ haley bonar is more than a hard working musician. she is an innovator, creative ass–kicker and visionary dug into the trenches of living. she writes genuine, epochal and poetic tales that feel like our heartbreak, failure, frustration and joy. in a clear, insistent and often haunting voice, she tells real stories back to us, as if they were our own. it just doesn’t get much better than that.
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| Haley Bonar — Impossible Dream (5th aug 2016) |
•→ Haley Bonar’s Impossible Dream is a brisk half–hour of barbed power–pop tunes that sting so sweetly that it’s only after the fact you consider you might need a tetanus shot.
•→ From Europe Tour (13x): Oct 14 Privatclub Berlin, Germany
Born: April 22, 1983 in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
Location: St. Paul, Minnesota
Album release: 5th aug 2016
Record Label: Gndwire Records/Thirty Tigers/Memphis Industries
Duration: 31:49
Tracks:
01 Hometown 3:05
02 Your Mom Is Right 3:30
03 Kismet Kill 3:29
04 I Can Change 3:13
05 Stupid Face 3:31
06 Called You Queen 3:20
07 Jealous Girls 3:00
08 Skynz 2:55
09 Better Than Me 3:14
10 Blue Diamonds Fall 2:32
© 2016 Haley Bonar
Credits:
♠ Haley Bonar Composer, Guitar (Ac), Guitar (El), Producer, Synthesizer, Vocals
♠ Chris Coady Mixing
♠ Sam Gordon Layout
♠ Jacob Hanson Bass, Guitar (Electric), Producer
♠ Jeremy Hanson Drums, Percussion
♠ Torey Hanson Paintings
♠ Robbie Lackritz Mixing
♠ Huntley Miller Mastering
♠ Alec Soth Photography
♠ Nick Tveitbakk Engineer
♠ Jeremy Ylvisaker Bass, Guitar (Electric), Synthesizer
•→ Still in her early thirties but with over a decade as a touring musician under her belt by the time of her sixth solo album, Haley Bonar brings a world–weary point of view to Impossible Dream. It’s a record that’s burdened with doubt in the quest for happiness, along with a certain amount of self–loathing (“I was impossible when I was beautiful”). The lyrics are accompanied by the more robust, indie rock sound she brought to her prior album, 2014’s Last War. Fans of that release likely won’t be disappointed, as Bonar delivers more well–crafted, catchy gems here. “Kismet Kill” evokes girl groups of another era amid post–punk guitars that rumble under a breezy melody. The song looks back on youth from post–motherhood. The punky drums and guitars of “Called You Queen” veil a lyrical melancholy that has her singing of “a lack of serotonin that shakes your brain.” (“Excuse me, sir, do you have a light/I know that I can be dark.”) Opening with acoustic guitar and drums, and eventually gathering electric guitars and synths, “I Can Change” is a sparser, more reflective number. The title is both encouraging and cynical in the context of its lyrics. Though open to interpretation, if happiness is the “impossible dream,” the album closes with “Blue Diamonds Fall,” a jaunty tune in which the protagonist acknowledges “I’m terrified and underpaid.” It ends with a repeated — and loaded — “You can be whatever you like.” These lyrics, Bonar’s somewhat sullen delivery, her knack for melodies and phrasing, and the full–band sound she’s grown into work together for a set of songs that stick and hold up to repeat plays.
Also:
By Evan Rytlewski, AUGUST 4 2016; Score. 6.8
•→ http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/22187-impossible-dream/
Written By Hal Horowitz // August 4, 2016 // Score: 4ú5
•→ https://americansongwriter.com/2016/08/haley-bonar-impossible-dream/
Label: http://www.memphis–industries.com/
Website: http://www.haleybonar.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/haleybonar
Bandcamp: http://haleybonar.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HaleyBonarMusic/
Bio Haley Bonar
•→ haley bonar had already recorded an album as a teenager before leaving rapid city, sd for duluth, mn — where she immediately recorded again. alan sparhawk heard her at a local iron range club one night and a week later, she was transformed from a college student to an ambitious dropout with her guitar and a drummer crammed into a honda civic opening for low. she was nineteen years old.
•→ it’s no accident that her creative prowess has also drawn the attention and respect of fellow collaborators like dave king, Andrew Bird and Justin Vernon, not to mention the company she keeps in a rotating cast of premium band members including jake hanson (halloween alaska, mason jennings), jeremy hanson (tapes ‘n tapes), luke anderson (rogue valley), jeremy ylvisaker (andrew bird, alpha consumer) and mike lewis (bon iver, alpha consumer).
•→ haley’s musical adventure took on a passenger in the wack theatrics of her no/new–wave punkish side project gramma’s boyfriend with an attention–getting album already behind them and an audience building in front of them. she is always throwing a curve ball or adding another dimension, akin to her heroes: Joni Mitchell, Mark Mothersbaugh, Laurie Anderson, Amy Sedaris, Maria Bamford, Louis C.K., Margaret Atwood and Cookie Mueller. like them, she remains true to her artistry regardless of trend, politic or scripted gender barriers.
•→ haley bonar is more than a hard working musician. she is an innovator, creative ass–kicker and visionary dug into the trenches of living. she writes genuine, epochal and poetic tales that feel like our heartbreak, failure, frustration and joy. in a clear, insistent and often haunting voice, she tells real stories back to us, as if they were our own. it just doesn’t get much better than that.