The Bard reflects on sharing a bed, and why he wont go to Chelsea
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Album reviews with IAN SINCLAIR: July 3, 2023
New releases from Bonny Doon, Speech Debelle and Jacob Young
MARY CONWAY applauds a new play that foresees the unscrupulous tactics of a future far-right minority government
RON JACOBS is moved to tears by an eloquent journal of heartfelt intensity and human portraiture
ROBERT OVETZ recommends a case study, from the University of Leicester, in their struggle against precarization, AI, privatisation, outsourcing, and work intensification in higher education
IAN SINCLAIR welcomes a lucid critique of a technology that reproduces and enables oppression, power, and environmental devastation
SIMON PARSONS applauds an impassioned demonstration of the fundamental role of women in the history and protection of the forest ecosystem
Bonny Doon
Let There Be Music
(Anti-)
★★★★
WHAT a pleasure this album is – the third from US band Bonny Doon.
Fans of sad white boy songwriters from across the pond like David Berman, Joe Pernice and Frontier Ruckus’s Matthew Milia will immediately feel at home with the warm melancholy created by Bobby Colombo (vocals, guitar), Bill Lennox (vocals, guitar) and Jake Kmiecik (drums).
Like the aforementioned artists, the Detroit-born three-piece trade in a poppy Americana, from the super catchy bar room piano on yearning opener San Francisco to the unlikely positivity of the title track. The tired-sounding You Can’t Stay The Same could be a track on The Jayhawks’ 1992 altcountry classic Hollywood Town Hall.
More from this author
New releases from Steady Habits, Jeff Tweedy, and Tom Skinner
IAN SINCLAIR welcomes a lucid critique of a technology that reproduces and enables oppression, power, and environmental devastation
Reviews of new releases by Wednesday, Suede, and Nation of Language
Reviews of new releases by Jens Lekman, Big Thief, and Christian McBride Big Band
