Minnesota musician Haley Bonar performs for NPR’s Tiny Desk concert series. (screenshot)
Minnesota’s own Haley Bonar performed an NPR “Tiny Desk” concert this month, which was shared this week on NPR’s website.
The popular series features up-and-coming musicians playing 2-3 songs on or near the music desk at NPR’s Washington, D.C., headquarters.
NPR’s Stephen Thompson previews Bonar’s induction into the pantheon of Tiny Desk participants:
The first time I saw Haley Bonar in concert, she and her band were performing at the base of a 54-foot Doritos vending machine — a dehumanizing corporate venue of the variety that occasionally surfaces at SXSW. Somehow, though, her wry, spiky spark found a way to shine through.
A few years later, we found a slightly cozier spot for Bonar to perform three new songs, all drawn from the Minnesotan’s terrific new album Impossible Dream. Along the way, she achieves an impressive range of sounds and storytelling, taking a little more than 10 minutes to pack in a melancholy look at the past’s inescapability (“Hometown”), a brooding slow-burn about temptation and trust (“Jealous Girls”), and a stomping rager about doomed love (“Called You Queen”). All three achieve a nifty balance, sounding just stripped-down enough to suit the space, yet still immaculately polished at every turn.
Bonar will perform in Northern Minnesota for the Northern Community Radio Centerstage Minnesota series at the Reif Center in Grand Rapids on Dec. 15.
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