Back in May we wrote about Why Bonnie announcing their signing to Fire Talk Records with single ‘Dotted Line’. The track possessed the “strange mix of desperation and mourning which comes with living within a society of unquenchable desires,” as we put it, with Blair Howerton and co. exploring what it means and how it feels to pursue artistic avenues in a system of extreme capitalism. “But rather than succumbing to the despair of this knowledge,” we concluded, “Why Bonnie instead offer a building defiance, as though deciding to fashion past regrets and naivety into some talisman against the devils looking to make their deals.”
Why Bonnie have now announced a new full-length album Wish On The Bone, and new single ‘Fake Out’ suggests the record concerns itself with similar themes. A song Howerton says is about “trying to be authentic in a world that makes it impossible to be so,” the track expands the ideas of ‘Dotted Line’ beyond the creative sphere to any mode of existence which sits at odds with the capitalist ideal. How do we live authentically within a world which demands we perform and pretend? Is it possible to confront the true dismal nature of things and still retain a sense of hope?
Such questions have weighed on Howerton since previous Why Bonnie album 90 in November, not least because she felt she had evolved beyond the wistful country-inflected style those songs presented. “I’ve changed since that album, and I trust that I’ll probably continue to change,” as Howerton explains. Wish On The Bone looks to pinpoint who she is at this point in time without committing to any lasting identity. To possess the confidence to work beyond the expectations of preconception and present however feels right within the current moment.
Hence an album which foregoes easy pigeonholing in terms of style, unified instead by the defiant new self-confidence which underpins it. “You owe it to the people who are experiencing the worst to just keep pushing,” as Howerton concludes. “These songs were written out of hope for a better future. I’m not naïve, the world is fucked up, but I think you can radically accept that while still believing it’s possible to change things.”
Wish On The Bone will be released via Fire Talk Records on 30th August and is available to pre-order via Bandcamp.
Cover photo by Julia Khoroshilov