featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
September 3, 2024
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust
We're lucky when we latch onto an ascending star, an artist who is in the midst of defining themself even as it's evident we've caught something special. Blair Howerton of Why Bonnie is on her way somewhere, though even she isn't especially certain where yet. With projects released on all the cool labels (Fat Possum, Keeled Scales, and now Fire Talk), the band's sound is evolving, from the indie folk and country of 2022's 90 In November to the more ragged, temperamental pop of their new Wish On the Bone. Howerton provides a little bearing: This album is about choosing hope, beauty, and love every day, because nothing is worth it if you don't believe in those things.
Most of the members of Why Bonnie had decamped from Austin to Brooklyn just prior to recording that debut full-length, a project that largely dwelt in nostalgia and retrospect, the ideas an emotions of a young person seeking traction in a new locale. Produced with Jonathan Schenke, Wish is a more mature, slightly more certain project, birthed in a storm of fiery guitar and shoegaze textures (the sound has been awkwardly christened shoegazeicana, though Howerton's Texas roots are buried deeper here than that term may imply). These eleven new songs will resonate with fans of Angel Olsen, Katie Crutchfield, and Alynda Segarra. Going forward, we might compare new artists to Blair Howerton.
One of the clearest glimpses of Why Bonnie's vision and potential is the love-drunk "Headlight Sun": Like a poetic line in a standard country song. Splitting the difference between the de jure slacker alt.country of Wednesday at more pop-oriented indie fuzz, it's aggressively pretty, with Howerton's raw, alluring vocal at the heart of its appeal: Got me lost in the moment / And I'm rambling / Like a rolling stone. "Fake Out" tips the balance decidedly towards an edgy pop, addressing Wish's theme of authenticity with a synth line under blurts of lyric and a rush of noise beneath the chorus: I wouldn't give it up / Just to fake it, but I could.
Wish On the Bone is predicated on that electric guitar, sometimes dreamy, sometimes cozy, occasionally blunt, wielded by Sam Houdek and Howerton. Hesitantly melodic on "Green Things", it communicates disillusion in light of a dishonest relationship: You were just so sweet to me / The sugar blacked me out. Simmering on the resentful "Dotted Line", calmed by melodic keys, guitars are initially woozy on the minor key "All the Money", both songs stirred by a vaguely anti-capitalist sentiment (Let all your problems melt away / Good days ahead after you pay). "Money" is a shambling journey from sleepy and vulnerable to resolved and headstrong, instruments swept up into the storm of strings and guitar as the song unspools.
Blair Howerton has commented that we change over time as people, an evolution that should be equally reflected in an artist's expression. She is at her most effective in that space between roots and rock, injecting her fierce indie pop energy with the residual hint of her years in Texas. The record's lilting title track seeks traction in a time of disillusion and doubt: I'm stuck on the grid / Asphalt and paint / And gasoline saints. A beautiful expression of restraint and release, "Rhyme Or Reason" processes the struggle for hope following the passing of the singer's brother from addiction: What you thought was disappointing / Wasn't second rate to me. Whether grounded in Kendall Powell's piano or Lily Desmond's fiddle, these can be remarkably, rawly appealing sounds. "Three Big Moons" flirts with quirky humor, a strummy acoustic weaving with Desmond's strings as Howerton expresses both the comfort and the challenge of isolation: I'm the king here / And the prettiest girl.
Wish On the Bone closes with the songwriter ghosted: I waited at our old bar / But you never showed / So I took the shot I bought you / And one more for the road. Even in moments of disappointment, Blair Howerton's songs seem resolute, tentatively inching forward in contrast to the longing glances of 90 In November. This relative uncertainty is part of the authenticity of her music, being both here and there, this but also maybe that. While there's a sense that there's more noise on the horizon as she continues to evolve, Wish On the Bone portrays the artist poised in a beautiful place.
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