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

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.”

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.