About HALEY
Hometown
Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
Born
1983
Genre
Alternative
Before she was known as HALEY, singer/songwriter Haley McCallum's 15-year career as Haley Bonar ("bonner") began with a sparse take on dreamy folk-rock that evoked names like Mazzy Star, Shannon Wright, and Elliott Smith. Accompanying herself alternately on acoustic guitar, electric guitar, or various keyboards, Bonar delivered her minor-key tunes and elliptical lyrics in a haunting, delicate voice at times reminiscent of both Aimee Mann and Gillian Welch. By the arrival of her fifth album, 2014's Last War, she'd leaned into a more muscular indie rock sound. In 2018, she released an all-instrumental mix of electronic, classical piano, and experimental rock music titled Pleasureland, her debut as HALEY.
Born near Winnipeg, Canada, raised in the Black Hills of South Dakota, and later based in St. Paul, Minnesota, Bonar moved to the Twin Cities to attend college as an English literature major. When Low leader Alan Sparhawk met the singer/songwriter at a showcase for young talent, he offered her a spot opening for his band on an upcoming tour. Barely out of her teens, Bonar left school and began working with Sparhawk (who provided some additional guitar loops) and Low producer Eric Swanson on her debut album, The Size of Planets. It was released in 2003 on Sparhawk's own label, Chairkicker's Union. Lure the Fox followed in late 2006, and Bonar subsequently toured alongside fellow musician Andrew Bird as well as contributing vocals to Bird's 2007 effort Armchair Apocrypha. Bonar released her third album, Big Star, in 2008, following it with a pair of self-released EPs. The full-length Golder arrived in 2011, after which she also began fronting Gramma's Boyfriend, a band with guitarist/keyboardists Jacob Hanson and Jeremy Ylvisaker, bassist Mark Erickson, and drummer Luke Anderson. Her fifth solo album, Last War, arrived in early 2014, and 2016's Impossible Dream continued in the vein of that album's livelier, full-band sound.
In 2017, Bonar took her mother's family name, changing hers to Haley McCallum. Professionally, she began releasing music as HALEY. Her debut under the mononym, 2018's Pleasureland, was an entirely instrumental affair that also marked her debut for the Memphis Industries label. ~ Stewart Mason & Marcy Donelson
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