Stream Haley Bonar's debut UK album, Last War, and read her Track-by-Track

The South Dakota talent was first spotted at an open mic night in Duluth, Minnesota by Low's Alan Sparhawk. Taken aback by her country-licked baritone, he invited her to open every night of the band's US tour at the time. Years later - and with a string of records under her belt in the States - Bonar later took to collaborating with Andrew Bird and Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), the latter of whom features on her new LP.

Title track "Last War" is thrillingly melancholic and "Heaven's Made For Two" is one of the most inspiring mish-mash creations we've heard in months, darting effortlessly between country hums, dream-pop scapes and thick walls of shoegaze.

Read Bonar's track-by-track guide below, and then check out the exclusive album stream.

"Kill The Fun"

"This song starts the album for a reason: it all starts out, like most things in life, with hope and clear conscience. Riding in the car on a California highway with the person you love. But as the song takes shape, it becomes clear that this was and could potentially be a final sentiment about the demise of a relationship. We can imagine, but ultimately never go back to the world before someone came into your heart. We all know that, but why ruin something new and lovely with red flags?"

"No Sensitive Man"

"This song has many meanings to me, depending on my mood. Sometimes it's about a calloused heart that feeds on degradation and possession in a relationship. Other times it's about the male-dominated industry I work in, and how sometimes it's hard to navigate around the facade of sensitivity when it is so often anything but. It could also be about the stereotypes our world continues to press upon men: to be tough, to shut up and play something good... I like that the song is so malleable and yet it's got grit and moments of ache."

"Last War"
"When I wrote this song it was as an afterthought about the end of a relationship rather than the album's centerpiece and title track. It was also technically the first song I wrote for the record... It evolved over three years. The image of the 'last war' within love is when you are ready to let go, looking back at the good with the bad, recalling, as if in a dream: "In the last words we said/In the last breath we laughed," and beginning again stronger and wiser regardless of the pain."

"Heaven's Made For Two"

"Parents have a tough job, and honestly my first idea for this song came from imagining a parent who runs away, leaving all reason and responsibility behind. He or she is ready to shed the domestic ideals and go to a topless beach, Coca Cola in hand, waiting for an update on the kids when they get around to it. At least, that's where my mind goes when my toddler has once again peed all over the floor and is running around with it all over her feet."

"From A Cage"

"I wrote this song to impress Justin Vernon. I sent the demo to him and it worked! He even sang on the dang thing. I kept the demo on the record."

"Bad Reputation"

"Maybe this is part two of "Heaven's Made for Two"... Or at least the guilt that ensues upon wishing you were anywhere but home taking care of a family and trying to be an upright citizen. I imagine a woman rocking her baby and looking out the window at her former self, free and sexy and smoking a cigarette, and they wave at each other. Ultimately the mother is exactly who she is and was and will be, but we all romanticize the past sometimes, at once shaming and glorifying our 'former' selves."

"Woke Up In My Future"

"You don't lie to me, and for all of your poison I enjoy your company..." This is ultimately my ode to booze. My relationship status with it changed last year when I decided it wasn't good company after all. I had no idea that doing this would bring up so much about my past and a deeper knowledge and recognition of myself. It's about learning to trust, not looking outwardly or toward invisible forces for the answers we know already but haven't learned to listen to yet."

"Can't Believe Our Luck"

"If I kept a diary, something I have struggled with doing on a regular basis for years, this would be an entry."

"Eat For Free"

"Music is free for all except those who make it. I've always been perplexed by this. I want to walk into a boutique and say "I'd like this sweater. Is it name your own price or free?" but this will never happen. I suppose I took this and melded it into a metaphor for relationships somehow. Something has value, outwardly and inwardly, the substance never changes but the atmosphere around it does. We have to be brave, we sometimes have to cut our own cord, but the show must go on."

Refreshingly eclectic, stream Last War below before its release this Monday (29 September) via Memphis Industries. Be sure to catch her live too on the following dates:

October:
27 - Brighton, Green Door
28 - Bristol, Start The Bus
29 - London, The Lexington
30 - Manchester, Gullivers
31 - Glasgow, Nice N Sleazy

November:

1 - Liverpool, L’pool Music Week