Description:

Haley Bonar was first discovered by Lows Alan Sparhawk whospotted her at a local open mic club in Duluth, Minnesota and was soimpressed he immediately invited her to join them on tour. A weeklater, nineteen year old Haley Bonar was transformed from collegestudent to ambitious dropout, crammed into a Honda Civic with aguitar and a drummer for company, touring the US opening for Low.

However, theres more to this story. In the decade since Haley hasreleased a succession of recordings, each of which have garneredmore praise than the last and has seen her collaborate with the likesof Andrew Bird (with whom Haley occasionally plays live) and JustinVernon (who features on the new album). Thats not to mention thecompany she keeps in a rotating cast of premium band membersincluding Jeremy Hanson (Tapes n Tapes), Luke Anderson (RogueValley), Jeremy Ylvisaker (Andrew Bird, Alpha Consumer) and MikeLewis (Bon Iver, Alpha Consumer). Now, with her new album LastWar Haley looks set to find a wider audience.

Much of the joy of Bonars songwriting is in the tension between hersparkling melodic sensibility and her deeply ambivalent lyrics.

Album opener Kill The Fun positively crackles with traces of TheBangles and The Cure at their most pop, as Bonar chronicles hertravels with a lover, taking some moments to reveal the nature of therelationship: Youll be here till morning / You will get back on theplane / Go back to work / where you never knew my name.

On No Sensitive Man (which features the most Clem Burke drumsoutside of a Blondie record), she claims I dont want no sensitiveman / I don't want to talk, while on the captivating Heavens MadeFor Two Bonars daydreaming vocal drifts ethereally as theinstrumentation builds from stripped-back beginnings into a countrymeets-shoegaze wall of sound crescendo.

On Last War the complexities hit as hard as the hooks, a smart,careful balance achieved through equal doses of mystery and charm.

Tracklisting
1.Kill The Fun
2.No Sensitive Man
3.Last War
4.Heavens Made For Two
5.From A Cage
6.Woke Up In My Future
7.Bad Reputation
8.Cant Believe Our Luck
9.Eat For Free