Those unfamiliar with ghostly/golden-voiced Minneapolis songstress Bonar should proceed first to any of her four splendid LPs, from 2003’s The Size of Planets to 2011’s Golder, or sporadic EPs like 2012’s “Bad Reputation” 7”. For Wntr is more of a stopgap release, a holiday thank you present for fans. It was recorded in her bedroom, lo-fi and unmastered, as she preps her fifth full-length. As well, she sings on only two of its six tracks: the stark, whispery hymn “Like Ice and Cold” and the twinkly, enriching romantic ode “This Year is New.” But even in such a spare format, those two songs remind how her enchanting Tanya Donelly-like drawl can still hold one spellbound, as she did when I saw her a decade ago opening for Low’s Alan Sparhawk at Manhattan’s (now relocated to Brooklyn) Knitting Factory in May 2003 (Sparhawk discovered her during an open mic night in Duluth, MN, and invited her on tour).
Of the instrumentals, the two classical-inspired piano pieces “Snowyish” and “Plassical” are also arresting, evoking a Debussy prelude or a Chopin waltz. (The fleeting yet festive, organ-pumped “Tiny Rose in the Snow” and abstract, spacey “Thirty Five N.” are lesser compositions, but still nice.) Though Wntr will appeal most to the already converted, it still makes for a pleasant soundtrack to your next blanket-draped, cider-sipping wintry evening in front of the fire.
