Whitney is an American band from

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, which formed in 2015 and is signed to Secretly Canadian.Deusner, Stephen
Biography
''

Secretly Canadian Secretly Canadian is an American independent record label based in Bloomington, Indiana, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Berlin. Secretly Canadian is a label included in Secretly Group, which ...

'' The band was formed shortly after the breakup of members Max Kakacek and Julien Ehrlich's band

Smith Westerns Smith Westerns were an American indie rock band from Chicago, Illinois, United States, composed of brothers Cullen and Cameron Omori as well as Max Kakacek, Julien Ehrlich and Hal James. Their musical influences included David Bowie, T. Rex and O ...

in late 2014. They released their debut album, '' Light Upon the Lake'', in June 2016 and have toured internationally.

Career

After the breakup of

in 2014, guitarist Max Kakacek joined with drummer Julien Ehrlich, who also played drums for

Unknown Mortal Orchestra Unknown Mortal Orchestra (UMO) is a New Zealand psychedelic rock band formed in Auckland, primarily composed of singer, guitarist, and songwriter Ruban Nielson, and bassist Jake Portrait. The band is currently based in Portland, Oregon, United ...

, to form Whitney. As roommates, the duo shared songwriting duties while Ehrlich became the main vocalist. Initially the band also featured members of the Touching Voids, Ehrlich's previous band. In June 2015, the band made the song "No Matter Where We Go" available digitally through the Lead Riders label. It included former Smith Westerns member Ziyad Asrar on rhythm guitar, Malcolm Brown on keyboards, bassist Josiah Marshall and brass player Will Miller. In 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 Jonathan Rado is an American musician, record producer and engineer, best known as a multi-instrumentalist in the indie rock duo Foxygen. Rado is a native of Westlake Village, California, where he formed Foxygen with his classmate Sam France in 2 ...

, who would produce their debut studio album. In September of that year, they joined Rado at his Los Angeles home studio to record. In January 2016, the band released the single "No Woman" supported by a video and toured Europe in anticipation of their new album. They also performed at the 2016 SXSW festival. On June 3, 2016, the album '' Light Upon the Lake'' was released, and shortly afterwards they embarked on their first headlining European tour. In 2017, the band announced a new demos album with a previously unreleased song, "You and Me". In March 2017, Whitney released two new songs, "You've Got a Woman" and "Gonna Hurry (As Slow as I Can)". Both are covers. ''Light Upon the Lake: Demo Recordings'' was released on November 10, 2017. In an interview published in April 2019, the band mentioned their second official album, due in 2019, would deal with "fear, confusion, and substance abuse". They shared a song titled "FTA" from the album in June 2019, and released the lead single “Giving Up” on June 6. The album ''Forever Turned Around'' was released on August 30, 2019. It was partially recorded at a winery in

Cotati, California Cotati (; Miwok: ''Kota’ti'') is an incorporated city in Sonoma County, California, United States, located approximately north of San Francisco in the 101 corridor between Rohnert Park and Petaluma. Cotati's population as of the 2020 Censu ...

. To celebrate the release, Chicago

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Lori Lightfoot Lori Elaine Lightfoot (born August 4, 1962) is an American attorney and politician serving since 2019 as the 56th mayor of Chicago. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Before becoming mayor, Lightfoot worked in private legal practice as ...

announced August 30 as Whitney Day. In May 2020, Whitney and

Waxahatchee Waxahatchee is an American indie music project, formed in 2010 by American singer-songwriter Katie Crutchfield (born 4 January 1989), previously a member of P.S. Eliot. The band is named after Waxahatchee Creek, in Alabama, where Crutchfield g ...

released covers of both "

Take Me Home, Country Roads "Take Me Home, Country Roads", also known simply as "Country Roads", is a song written by Bill Danoff, Taffy Nivert and John Denver about West Virginia. It was released as a single performed by Denver on April 12, 1971, peaking at number two o ...

" and "

Rain Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...

". Both tracks appeared on Whitney's album of covers titled ''Candid'', which was released on August 14, 2020, and also included covers of "

Strange Overtones "Strange Overtones" is a song recorded by David Byrne and Brian Eno, written by the duo with Leo Abrahams. It was released on August 4, 2008 by means of free download as the lead single from Byrne's and Eno's second collaborative studio album '' ...

" (originally by

David Byrne David Byrne (; born 14 May 1952) is a Scottish-American singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, writer, music theorist, visual artist and filmmaker. He was a founding member and the principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of ...

and

Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...

) and "Hammond Song" (originally by

The Roches The Roches were an American vocal trio of sisters Maggie, Terre and Suzzy Roche, from Park Ridge, New Jersey. Career In the late 1960s, eldest sister Maggie (October 26, 1951 – January 21, 2017) and middle sister Terre (pronounced "Terry", ...

). On June 16, 2022, Whitney released their single "Real Love" and announced that their next album ''

Spark Spark commonly refers to: * Spark (fire), a small glowing particle or ember * Electric spark, a form of electrical discharge Spark may also refer to: Places * Spark Point, a rocky point in the South Shetland Islands People * Spark (surname) * ...

'' would be released on September 16, 2022 on

. The album features production by

John Congleton John Congleton is an American Grammy Award-winning record producer, engineer, mixer, writer and musician. In addition to his production work, Congleton has fronted the alternative rock band the Paper Chase, and writes music for a newer project e ...

and Brad Cook. On December 9, 2022, Whitney released the EP ''Live at Electric Lady'', which includes a cover of

Beach House Beach House is an American musical duo formed in Baltimore, Maryland in 2004. The band consists of Victoria Legrand (vocals, keyboards) and Alex Scally (guitar, keyboard, backing vocals). Their self-titled debut album was released in 2006 to ...

's "Other People".

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". Paul Lester in ''the Guardian'' described the band as "think

Bon Iver Bon Iver ( ) is an American indie folk band founded in 2006 by singer-songwriter Justin Vernon. Vernon released Bon Iver's debut album, ''For Emma, Forever Ago,'' independently in July 2007. The majority of the album was recorded while Vernon ...

, with elements of folk and country, only given a Chicago soul makeover". They cite

Levon Helm Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm (May 26, 1940 – April 19, 2012) was an American musician who achieved fame as the drummer and one of the three lead vocalists for the Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. H ...

and

Allen Toussaint Allen Richard Toussaint (; January 14, 1938 – November 10, 2015) was an American musician, songwriter, arranger and record producer. He was an influential figure in New Orleans rhythm and blues from the 1950s to the end of the century, descri ...

as inspiration.

Discography

Albums

Studio albums * '' Light Upon the Lake'' (2016) * ''Forever Turned Around'' (2019) * ''Candid'' (2020) * ''

'' (2022) EPs * ''Live at Electric Lady'' (2022) Demo albums * ''Light Upon the Lake: Demo Recordings'' (2017)

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) * "Giving Up" (June 2019) * "FTA" (November 2019) * " Far, Far Away" (November 2019) * "

" (May 2020) * "

" (May 2020) * "Hammond Song" (July 2020) * "Strange Overtones" (August 2020) * "Real Love" (June 2022) * "Blue / Twirl" (July 2022) * "Memory / County Lines" (August 2022)

References

External links

* {{Authority control Indie rock musical groups from Illinois Musical groups from Chicago Secretly Canadian artists