Haley Bonar - Impossible Dream, review: ‘determined and spirited’

The Manitoba-born singer presents an album that threatens to become a constant companion
A rare gift: Haley Bonar once again proves she's a wonderful songwriter on album nine
Richard Godwin5 August 2016

The impossible dream, it seems, is escaping yourself. “The further that I get, the deeper my regrets,” sings Manitoba-born songwriter Haley Bonar on the opening track of her ninth solo album. “Hometown goes wherever you go.”

Haley Bonar - Impossible Dream

But while she trades in a thirty-something world-weariness and a certain scuzzy Midwestern ache (she has collaborated with Low and Andrew Bird in the past), there is something determined and spirited about this collection.

It’s partly because she is simply a wonderful songwriter, with a rare gift for a moody hook that calls to mind a less comatose Beach House, or a punkier Aimee Mann. And her lyrics bear close listening: Called You Queen is about a sad relationship with a gay man.

The fact that the whole thing whips by in half an hour adds to its urgency - “I can change, I can change, I can change” she wails - before finding a sort of acceptance on the closing Blue Diamonds Fall. It’s one of those albums that threatens to become a constant companion.

(Memphis Industries)

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