Alan Bonner is a singer-songwriter based in London. After leaving his small village in Suffolk for the bright lights of London at 18, Alan has spent the past few years writing, recording and playing at venues across the UK and Europe, all the while penning lyrics on beer mats and bashing out chords on a beaten Piano.
His new album Balladeer is bursting with pathos. Bonner proves he’s a master singer songwriter, weaving shimmering narratives and smoky melodies that linger heavy with melancholy into glorious harmonious poetry.
Since graduating from the Brighton Institute of Modern Music in 2007, Bonner’s emotionally charged live shows have left audiences stunned, not only by the intensity of his performances and quality of his voice, but by the honesty and confessional nature of his songs. Having supported acts such as Fyfe Dangerfeild, David Ford, In Me, Goldheart Assembly, and Sons of Noel and Adrian, he has built up a loyal following and has played at festivals throughout the UK including Oxjam, Global Gathering and Brighton Live.
Bonner has taken his music overseas, playing a cluster of shows in Australia in 2010, and embarking on a European Tour in 2011 covering the UK, Italy and Germany. When back in Britain, he often gigs on the London circuit, immersing himself in London’s thriving Brit-Folk scene.
2008 saw the independent release of Alan Bonner‘s debut album ‘Songs for the Heart Shaped’, which is available from all major digital music retailers, as well as in physical format at selected UK stores. Alan Bonner’s songs have also been featured in UK Drama series The Glue, and the short film and TV pilot His Uterus, Her Lover.
We had an early listen to Alan Bonner’s second album Balladeer (out Monday March 4th 2013) and here’s what we thought:
’Autumn’ is accompanied by beautiful piano. The voice sways in the wind like a ripening head of wheat. The texts are rendered smoothly – sentimental and heart-warming. There is a gloriously uncomfortable feeling just simmering below the surface. It is a song of hopeless loss.
Then we get ‘Lighthouse Song’ [Explicit] with it’s twinkled, barely scraped, plucks. The song opens up with the voice of Alan smiling at the new dawn. After the poppy first verse, a delicious caky bass adds a little concord. Then the second verse looms in – and this is when the voice sounds more actively like Bowie circa 1971. The chorus fries like early morning potato slices on the stove. A clap-along melody helps to remove some of the pain – this time it’s caused by the thought of travelling through life … alone.
‘Look at Me’ also gently patters along near the piano. The voice trembles and lurches. But it also has the actualising power to evoke deep passion.
‘Talia’ has deeply disquieting cello and is reminiscent of Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day” both lyrically and also portentously. The lightness should be there – in a world where days spent with a treasured friend are lost in ‘Lots of red wine’. But lightness is hard to find. Gloom soon spreads its wings over the scene, blotting out the sun. Like ‘Talia’ our hopes seem lost in this shade.
‘Rainbow Man’ etches out the truth in bitter words. This song, about bigotry – (inspired by the hate-killing of Matthew Shepherd) – is as manifestly cruel and as horrifying as its subject.
No brighter, ‘Redemption’ plunders your sentimental rawness and sucks at your memories. This masterpiece beats somnolently. It bruises your heart with its insistent murk -it does not matter if you light a fire to bring in the light – this remains a dark corridor of foreboding. “Are we in heaven or are we in hell? Only time will tell…”
Perhaps ‘Better Man’ summarizes the work of Alan Bonner best. Asking to be freed from the demons that lurk deep inside his conscious self, he turns to the sun and sings his plea. And as a poet and artist, he knows that he feels more deeply – more painfully – than other ‘stronger’ men. And if he were a ‘Better Man’ he might capture the heart he yearns for. So may we all.
This is an amazing album, consistent, and accomplished. Filled with strong opinions, intriguing emotions, melancholic rage and intense images. The songs are often a puzzle, and sometimes seem to creep up behind you, to take you by surprise. Leaving you guessing. And gasping for more.
-© Neil_Mach January 2013 –
Link:
http://www.facebook.com/ALANBONNERMUSIC
UPCOMING SHOWS:
UK TOUR DATES 2013
- FEB 5th THE TROUBADOUR LONDON
- MARCH 7th WEST ST LIVE – SHEFFIELD
- MARCH 12th THE SHED – LEICESTER
- MARCH 18th MR WOLFS BRISTOL
- MARCH 21st THE BRUNSWICK HOVE
- 27th MARCH THE UNDERBELLY HOXTON LONDON 8.30PM
RAW RAMP 
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