Alan Bonnerโs latest music video has landed and stopped us right in our tracks. How Did It Come To This? is a ballad to play on your heartstrings, but not like the ones youโve heard before.
It begins with unadorned piano and Bonnerโs unnerving gaze, who doesnโt let go. He hits each note with assurance but his voice quakes with emotion, recalling the delivery of Anthony & the Johnsons that so impressed Lou Reed in the early noughties. Itโs fashionable to malign that era now; Bonner isnโt so picky about his influences. Hear for yourself:
Itโs not Bonnerโs own story that he tells in this ballad, but that of an unknown woman standing in a boat, gun in hand. He doesnโt wail for her: he just tells of the tragic reality of a handful of moments without the whole arc before. Thatโs why we ask, โhow did it come to this?โ
โFeeling the kick inside
All the secrets she had carried
Carried for a season
Now there is no reasonโ
He tells us in the second verse: an unwanted wedding in repressed Bible Belt America, to a man she can never love. This is even more poignant if you interpret it with an LGBT+ lens, considering Bonnerโs own history as an outspoken LGBT+ artist (much like Anthony & the Johnsons, in fact). Itโs good to hear music with a progressive message.
Born for the ballad
Progressive, but not optimistic: even at his most urgent, in the stirring bridge section singing โdonโt let it come to thisโ, Bonner doesnโt give us much hope. Like the bars heโs tied to in the first half, like the clammy cellar in the second, these situations are so often out of our control, and he knows it. Itโs remarkable how Lisa Lorieneโs videography tells a very different story but captures the same tone.
Thatโs the most winning thing about Bonnerโs songwriting – how he captures those precise sentiments. Not just โsadnessโ, which can come off as whiny, or lazy cynicism: rather, the point of misery beyond explaining and beyond complaining, the apathy stage.
The maturity of this musician wonโt surprise anyone whoโs heard him before. That might include you if you’ve ever followedย Time Out, Grazia, Gay Times or BBC 6Music.
Butย whether or not you’ve heard him before you’re bound to want to hear him again. Alan Bonner will play at Lagari on the 25th May with theย Troubadour Collectiveย (indieBerlin recommended!).
(Artistโs acknowledgement to director Lisa Loriene and actors Glenn Krogel and George Begbie)