Haley Bonar - Big Star
ARTIST.....: Haley Bonar
TITLE......: Big Star
LABEL......: Afternoon Records
URL........: http://www.haleybonar.com
RIP DATE...: Jun-05-2008
STORE DATE.: Jun-10-2008
GENRE......: Indie
QUALITY....: VBR / 44.1Hz / Joint-Stereo
SIZE.......: 38,4 MB
Track Listing:
01 - Green Eyed Boy 03:22
02 - Arms Of Harm 02:41
03 - Little Maiden Gin 02:36
04 - Big Star 02:51
05 - Mayday 03:13
06 - Better Half 03:38
07 - Something Great 02:00
08 - Queen Of Everything 02:23
09 - Highway 16 02:37
10 - Along 02:29
11 - Tiger Boy 03:33
─────
31:23 min
Release Notes:
http://www.afternoonrecords.com
http://www.myspace.com/haleybonar
Haley Bonar is twenty-four years old, and already on her fourth
album. Her new album, Big Star, is a watershed moment for her - a
record like a Cormac McCarthy short story: simple on the intake,
but revealing universal truths with a powerful emotional impact as
it sinks in. In the words of filmmaker Ali Selim (Sweet Land) "Her
voice is an invitation to amazing places."
Bonar was born near Winnipeg, raised in the Black Hills of South
Dakota, and cut her teeth on the winters of Duluth, Minnesota. She
presently calls St. Paul her home.
Her first album, Haley Bryn Bonar, was recorded when she was
seventeen. It bore the signature of someone who was punk, but not
really punk rock - she owned an acoustic guitar and created folk
songs of her own style, yet liberally innocent of the concept of
"anti-folk." Her follow-up release, The Size of Planets, landed
her on the radar. It was released on Low's Chairkicker's Union
label, and inspired by the greats: Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, and
Loretta Lynn. Voted one of the best albums of 2003 by the
Minneapolis Star Tribune, it received rave reviews from the likes
of the Philadelphia City Paper, Minneapolis City Pages, Chicago
Sun Times, Pulse Magazine, and Alternative Press.
At twenty-one, she self-released Lure the Fox, a gritty, lovely,
and haunted album. It struck a fierce chord with old and new fans
and earned the Best American Roots Recording in the 2006 Minnesota
Music Awards, where she also received recognition as Best American
Roots Artist. Minneapolis City Pages gave her the distinction of
Artist of the Year, and the Star Tribune and Pulse placed the
album on year end top ten lists. Lure the Fox was then picked up
for re-release and national distribution by Minneapolis-based
Afternoon Records. Meanwhile, she kept busy with other projects -
she sang a song for the closing credits for the film "Sweet Land",
toured with Andrew Bird, and contributed vocals to Bird's 2007
album Armchair Apocrypha.
Which brings us to 2008 and the completion of Bonar's new and most
accomplished collection of songs, Big Star, an album loosely
themed around the struggle of wanting something that elicits both
dislike and desire - whether it be fame, success, or love. The
album was recorded at the Terrarium in Minneapolis and mixed by
noted engineer Tchad Blake (Tom Waits, The Bad Plus, Elvis
Costello, Pearl Jam) who brings all of the subtle textures of the
recordings to life. Haley played guitars, melotron and keyboards,
and was joined by Chris Morrissey (Ben Kweller) on bass, Dave King
(The Bad Plus) on drums, and Luke Anderson and Bill Mike on
electric guitar.
Bonar has toured with Andrew Bird, Mason Jennings, Mary Lou Lord,
Richard Buckner, and Charlie Parr - domestically and
internationally - as well as shared stages with Neko Case, Pedro
the Lion, the Arcade Fire, and Wanda Jackson.