Haley Bonar

Haley McCallum launched her 15-year run recording as Haley Bonar with an understated approach to dreamy folk-rock that called to mind Mazzy Star, Shannon Wright, and Elliott Smith. Switching between acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and an array of keyboards, she shaped minor-key songs and elliptical lyrics around a haunting, delicate vocal delivery that at moments suggested both Aimee Mann and Gillian Welch. With the arrival of her fifth album, 2014's Last War, the music shifted toward a more muscular indie-rock palette. Four years later she issued Pleasureland, an entirely instrumental collection blending electronic textures, classical piano, and experimental rock, marking her first release under the name HALEY.

Born near Winnipeg, Canada, raised in South Dakota's Black Hills, and later settled in St. Paul, Minnesota, McCallum had moved to the Twin Cities to study English literature. Low's Alan Sparhawk encountered the young songwriter at a showcase for emerging artists and invited her to open for his band. Still in her late teens, she left school and joined Sparhawk—who contributed occasional guitar loops—and producer Eric Swanson to complete her debut, The Size of Planets, issued in 2003 on Sparhawk's Chairkicker's Union imprint. Lure the Fox followed in late 2006. She subsequently toured with Andrew Bird and added vocals to his 2007 album Armchair Apocrypha. Her third full-length, Big Star, appeared in 2008 and was trailed by two self-released EPs. Golder arrived in 2011, the same period she began leading Gramma's Boyfriend alongside guitarists and keyboardists Jacob Hanson and Jeremy Ylvisaker, bassist Mark Erickson, and drummer Luke Anderson. Last War reached listeners in early 2014; two years later, Impossible Dream extended the fuller, more energetic band sound heard on that record.

In 2017 McCallum adopted her mother's family surname and began issuing music as HALEY. Her debut under the mononym, 2018's Pleasureland, remained wholly instrumental and introduced her to the Memphis Industries roster.