When: 7.30pm on Monday 24 October 2016
Where: The Brudenell Social Club, 33 Queen’s Road, Headingley, Leeds LS6 1NY

We’re excited to be working with Haley Bonar again – this time, in Leeds!

Haley Bonar has spent a lot of the past few years poring over her past. That has something to do with the sound of her recent recordings, whether it be her recent solo efforts or the throwback funky punky grooves of her side project, Gramma’s Boyfriend.

But on her latest album Impossible Dream, this glance in the rearview has also inspired some of the most poignant and pointed work of her long career as songwriter even if you have to dig a little to find Bonar within the tunes.

‘I was writing short stories for a while, mostly for myself,’ she says. ‘But in some ways you can afford a lot more when you’re writing something that’s three minutes long versus something that’s detailed and is obvious that it’s you. This is me looking back on memory lane and just using little fragments that are relevant to the song so it feels a little less naked.’

Impossible Dream then, like all of Bonar’s work, gains its power from a combination of the personal and universal. Even when she sings about her days hitting up basement punk shows on Better Than Me or kicks off this album with an ode to her formative years in the gently chiming Hometown, it will surely stir up memories from your own younger days.

And as with her prior albums, Bonar reveals a widescreen look at the world, touching on issues of sexuality, jealousy, and the fragile ties that bind relationships together. If they connect with your circumstance and the cultural conversation at large, that’s just a welcome coincidence.

‘Those things have always been relevant to me,’ Bonar says. ‘Those conversations have been happening my entire life.’

What is clear right now is the impact this album is looking to have on the world at large. Bonar has already received some excited press notices about the two singles from Impossible Dream that have already been released: I Can Change (‘a resolute pillar of bold, classic songwriter,\ according to The Line of Best Fit) and Kismet Kill, which Stereogum called ‘a penetrating rumination on just how transitory love and beauty can be.’). The biggest stamp of approval, though, has come from Elton John. The venerated singer/songwriter chose to play I Can Change on his Beats 1 show Rocket Man Radio.

‘Hearing Elton John say my song is beautiful is pretty awesome,’ Bonar admits.

To say that Bonar’s career has been building towards that nod from a rock god, though, is to dismiss all the hard work she has done since she started releasing music in 2001. The 33-year-old singer/songwriter has been building a fanbase slowly and steadily, while remaining in complete control of her art. As with all of her prior albums, Bonar wrote and arranged all the songs on Impossible Dream. She also co-produced the record with Minneapolis mainstay Jacob Hanson. Chances are she’d be making this music even without the support of a label or her many fans around the world. But, just as the title of this new album suggests, she’s living out her wildest and most impossible dream right now.

‘If somebody came to me as a teenager and said, “In 15 years, you’ll have made nine records and be touring the world,” I would have been, like, “No way,”‘ she says, laughing. ‘It’s true that it might not look like a lot to some people, but it’s very special to me.’

‘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’ – Pitchfork

Support comes from Girl Ray. Green Man festival said of them: ‘A North London trio who deal in fuzzy pop gems that Moldy Peaches would still be making a name from, Girl Ray shape their love of off-kilter pop bands such as Neutral Milk Hotel, Pavement and Cate Le Bon in to a sound that feels instantly familiar and completely lovable. An endearing presence, full of promise.’

This show is a co-promotion with Please Please You.

Buy tickets now. Tickets are also available from the Brudenell bar, Crash Records, Jumbo Records, Wegottickets.com and on 0871 220 0260.