Listen to a brand-new song by Haley Bonar, 'I Can Change'
by Luke Taylor
May 04, 2016
Haley Bonar's next album, Impossible Dream, will be released on Aug. 5, 2016. On May 4, Bonar released an advance single, "I Can Change." Use the audio player above to hear the new song.
The new track comes out strong with pounding drums, which are quickly counterbalanced by delicate acoustic guitar and lilting vocals. Thematically, "I Can Change" invites introspection; Bonar sings, "If you don't cut it out and set it free / You're doomed to repeat / Thinking 'I can change, I can change'…" The powerful lyric seems to work in a couple of ways: it either reminds us of resolutions unfulfilled or encourages us to bring about the changes we wish to see in our own lives or perhaps in the world around us.
The song also contains an urgency — punctuated by those insistent drums — suggesting that if we truly want to make changes, we can't dither. Bonar sings, "I could be so happy if I let myself be happy / but I'm too busy behaving for a crowd / Thinking 'I can change, I can change…'" There's an irony there we can recognize, whether in the present or in retrospect.
"I Can Change" once again demonstrates Bonar's immense talent as a songwriter; in an economy of words, Bonar quickly communicates a thought-provoking idea. The lyrics layer comfortably within a gripping arrangement, which — much like the title track to Bonar's previous album, Last War — makes us think while making us move our feet.
The new album, Impossible Dream, was tracked directly to tape at Pachyderm Studio in Cannon Falls, Minn., and mixed by Chris Coady (Beach House, YYYs, TVOTR) and Robbie Lackritz (Feist, Bahamas). Impossible Dream will be released on GNDWIRE/Thirty Tigers.