90 In November

A native of Houston, singer and songwriter Blair Howerton started Why Bonnie in Austin in the late 2010s, with the quintet introducing their hazy lo-fi songs on a pair of cassettes in 2018. By the time they released an EP with upgraded production through Fat Possum in 2020, the group had relocated to Brooklyn and hired a new drummer. Written by Howerton while isolated in her apartment during pandemic shutdowns, the material for the bands first album and Keeled Scales debut, 90 in November, was so strongly rooted in Texas nostalgia that they ultimately returned to the Lone Star State for two weeks to record the songs. With track titles like "Galveston," "Silsbee," and "Hot Car" on board, the album opens with a fretboard squeak, a wail of distortion, and a wall of guitar atmosphere on "Sailor Mouth" before settling into a swaying, midtempo groove. Clearing the air for conversational vocals, piano, and restrained guitar and rhythm section, its about finding comfort in the familiar. ("Its a salty-sweet, familiar taste when I say you name.") Howerton reminisces more specifically about Houston in the double-tracked "90 in November," a collection of snapshots that includes phrases like "cardboard cut-out cowboy," "two-dollar fill-up," and "Technicolor sun." She recalls childhood day trips ("Candyland beaches," "La-Z-Boy and lawn chairs") on the sprightlier "Galveston," which adds organ to their drawling rock palette. The drowsy "Hot Car" merges hypnotic synths and guitars without sacrificing a steady drumbeat, and they eventually approach uptempo territory on the low-key, weary bop "Healthy" ("Ill only leave the house if you dare me/But its so sweet to be sedentary"). A full-band effort throughout, it winds down with the jangly love tribute "Superhero." Leaving Why Bonnies previous home-brewed and indie pop leanings behind, 90 in November and its solid songs mark a confident step forward into the domain of dreamy, twang-infused rock. ~ Marcy Donelson