…featuring a previously unreleased demo, alternate versions of much-loved album favorites and a cover from the sessions for their seminal debut album.
Light Upon the Lake is the moseying debut album of Whitney, a septet built around the core songwriting team of Julien Ehrlich and Max Kakacek, both formerly of Smith Westerns. Often surprisingly intimate for a seven-piece, the group makes subtle use of instrumentation like brass and strings to flesh out without symphonizing their country-tinged indie pop.
The melancholy opener, “No Woman,” begins with cushiony keyboards and a short brass fanfare before Ehrlich — who doubles as the band’s lead singer and drummer — introduces his misty, double-tracked falsetto. He appears…
Tag Archive: Whitney
After making a name for themselves, including charting on the Billboard independent, rock, and alternative lists, with their warm, mellifluous take on vintage folk- and country-rock, Whitney — singer/drummer Julien Ehrlich and guitarist Max Kakacek — experimented with lush electronics and even hip-hop beats on their fourth album, SPARK. Arriving three years later, Small Talk marks a glowing return to inviting organic textures on a philosophical album informed by breakups and broader lessons learned. It was recorded without an outside producer — a first for Whitney, at the encouragement of prior producer Brad Cook — in a barn in Newberg, Oregon, that contained recording gear collected over the years by Ehrlick’s father (also a drummer), including…