Whitney (band)

Whitney
Whitney performing at the Pitchfork Music Festival at Union Park in Chicago, Illinois on July 15, 2016
Background information
Origin Chicago, Illinois, United States
Genres Indie folk, indie rock, soul
Years active 2015–present
Labels Secretly Canadian, Lead Riders
Associated acts Smith Westerns, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Foxygen
Members Max Kakacek
Julien Ehrlich
Josiah Marshall
Will Miller
Malcolm Brown
Print Chouteau
Charles Glanders
Past members Ziyad Asrar[1]

Whitney is an American band from Chicago,[2][3] which formed in 2015 and is signed to Secretly Canadian.[4] The band was formed shortly after the breakup of members Max Kakacek and Julien Ehrlich's band Smith Westerns in late 2014.[5] They released their debut album, Light Upon the Lake, in June 2016 and have toured internationally.[6]

Career

After the breakup of Smith Westerns in 2014, guitarist Kakacek joined with drummer Julien Ehrlich, who also played drums for Unknown Mortal Orchestra, to form Whitney.[2] As roommates, the duo shared songwriting duties while Ehrlich became the main vocalist. Initially the band featured members of the Touching Voids, Ehrlich's previous band.[7] In June 2015, the band made the song "No Matter Where We Go" available digitally through the Lead Riders label.[8] It included former Smith Westerns member Ziyad Asrar on rhythm guitar, Malcolm Brown on keyboards, bassist Josiah Marshall and brass player Will Miller.[9]

During 2015, the band played around thirty shows, mostly in support of other artists. This included Tobias Jesso Jr. who got the band in contact with Jonathan Rado, the producer of the album. In September of that year, they joined Rado at his Los Angeles home studio to record.[9] In January 2016 the band released the single "No Woman" supported by a video and toured Europe in anticipation of the new album.[6] They also featured on the 2016 edition of the SXSW festival.[10]

On June 3, 2016 the album Light Upon the Lake was released. In support they embarked on their first headlining European tour.[11]

In 2017, the band announced a new demos album with a previously unreleased song, "You and Me".[12]

In March of 2017 Whitney released two new songs, "You've Got a Woman" and "Gonna Hurry (As Slow As I Can)" . Both are covers.[13]

Style

Ehrlich outlined the approach to songwriting as "when we were writing for Whitney, we were doing what we wanted to do, the music was really freeing".[9] Paul Lester in the Guardian described the band as "think Bon Iver, with elements of folk and country, only given a Chicago soul makeover".[2] They cite Levon Helm and Allen Toussaint as inspiration.[9][14]

Discography

Album

Singles

  • "No Matter Where We Go" (June 2015)
  • "No Woman" (January 2016)
  • "You've Got a Woman / Gonna Hurry (As Slow As I Can)" (March 2017)
  • "You and Me (Demo) (September 2017)

References

  1. ↑ Homewood, Ben (15 February 2016). First Kisses, Falsettos, and Smith Westerns' Split: Whitney Interviewed, NME
  2. 1 2 3 Lester, Paul (2016-02-12). "New band of the week: Whitney (No 90)". the Guardian. Retrieved 2016-06-04.
  3. ↑ Donelson, Marcy. "Whitney | Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved 2016-06-04.
  4. ↑ Deusner, Stephen. Biography, Secretly Canadian
  5. ↑ "Whitney: Light Upon the Lake Album Review - Pitchfork".
  6. 1 2 Wilkinson, Matt (January 18, 2016). "New Music Of The Day: Whitney – 'No Woman'". NME.com. Retrieved 2016-06-04.
  7. ↑ De Martino, Susanna (August 11, 2015). "An Interview With Whitney's Julien Ehrlich". Rare Candy. Retrieved 2016-06-04.
  8. ↑ Milton, Jamie (June 2, 2015). "Members of Smith Westerns, Touching Voids form Whitney, share 'No Matter Where You Go'". DIY. Retrieved 2016-06-04.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Garaas, Leah (January 18, 2016). "Upstream: Whitney make country feel fresh and cool". The Current from Minnesota Public Radio. Retrieved 2016-06-04.
  10. ↑ Cox, Jamieson (2016-03-18). "What it's like to be a band on the SXSW grind, as told by Whitney". The Verge. Retrieved 2016-06-04.
  11. ↑ "On the road with Whitney, your new favourite band". 28 July 2016.
  12. ↑ "Whitney Announce Demos Album, Share New Song: Listen | Pitchfork". pitchfork.com. Retrieved 2018-04-04.
  13. ↑ "New Music: Whitney – "You've Got A Woman" (Lion Cover) and "Gonna Hurry (As Slow As I Can)" (Dolly Parton Cover)". Spin. 2017-03-27. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  14. ↑ Kakacek, Max; Ehrlich, Julien (2016-06-02). "Whitney's playlist: Allen Toussaint, the Band and Mulatu Astatke". the Guardian. Retrieved 2016-06-04.
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