WHITNEY RETURN WITH SMALL TALK NEW ALBUM OUT NOVEMBER 7TH

NEW SINGLE “DANDELIONS” OUT NOW

Small Talk album cover art

Today, Whitney have announced their new album, Small Talk will be released November 7th on AWAL. Small Talk is the Chicago duo’s fourth and unequivocally best and most affecting album. To mark the occasion, they’ve released a new single, “Dandelions,” a mid-summer sparkler with lead-singer Julien Ehrlich’s lamenting falsetto scaffolded by horns, sweeping string arrangements and plaintive slide guitar from Max Kakacek. The single follows album track “Darling,” released at the top of the summer and hinting at their return. Now fans can listen to their new song “Dandelions” HERE and pre-order Small Talk HERE.

Whitney’s Julien Ehrlich on “Dandelions”:

“A couple years ago Max and I were both on the brink of moving across the country to be closer to the people we were dating at the time. Over the span of a few months both relationships somewhat abruptly crumbled, leaving us with equal parts confusion and sadness, mourning the futures that would have accompanied those relationships as well as the relationships themselves. Inspired by those events (and on a whim of Midwestern pride) we wound up spinning the story of ‘Dandelions’ into one of a big city hopeful who gets chewed up and spit back out into the heartland.”

WATCH THE OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO FOR “DANDELIONS” HERE

After a decade of being roommates and bandmates, first in Smith Westerns and then in Whitney, Julien Ehrlich and Max Kakacek entered the studio in the Summer of 2024 to begin recording Small Talk sans-producer, with assorted pals dropping in to add parts. The result is 11 incandescent songs that delight on two levels. There are instant classic Whitney songs here, tunes that tug at the same heartfelt melodic strings they’ve always pulled, and still other moments that speak to how much room they gave themselves to evolve. Pre-order your copy of Small Talk on 140g LP “Crimson Moon” or “Bone” vinyl now via their website.

The band have also announced a Summer 25’ North American headlining tour that will kick off this Sunday, on July 20th in Lake Tahoe, CA and snake up through Canada and over to the East Coast before landing back in the Midwest supported by Folk Bitch Trio. Currently, the duo has spent the early part of summer playing amphitheatres throughout the U.S. opening for folk trio Caamp. Highlights include The Greek in Los Angeles, CA tonight and The Greek in Berkeley, CA this Saturday, July 19th. All tickets are on sale at https://www.whitneytheband.com/

Whitney was formed in Chicago in 2015 by former Smith Westerns guitarist Max Kakacek and Unknown Mortal Orchestra drummer Julien Ehrlich. Known for their warm, soulful sound and introspective songwriting, Whitney quickly gained acclaim with their debut album, Light Upon the Lake (2016), which featured the standout single “No Woman.” The record established the band as a critical and fan favourite, with Pitchfork giving it it’s Best New Music distinction (8.3) and saying, “you’ll find the songs to be near flawless. Low-key perfectionism is perhaps a humbler virtue than seeking the big, dynamic splash. But it has a way of sneaking in past our defences and lingering longer—before we know, we’ve been singing under our breath for the better part of a year.”

Following their breakthrough, Whitney released Forever Turned Around (2019), further cementing their reputation for heartfelt, meticulously crafted music. They continued to evolve their sound with Candid (2020), an album of reimagined covers, and Spark (2022), which introduced a bolder, more expansive sonic palette. With sold-out tours across North America and Europe and performances at major festivals like Coachella and Pitchfork, Whitney has built a devoted following and continues to push the boundaries of modern indie music.

Photo credit: Alexa Vicious

SMALL TALK TRACK LIST:
Silent Exchange
Won’t You Speak Your Mind
The Thread
Damage
Dandelions
Islands (Really Something)
In The Saddle
Evangeline (Ft. Madison Cunningham)
Back To The Wind
Small Talk
Darling

TOUR:
w/ Folk Bitch Trio*
Supporting Caamp#

07.16 – Greek Theatre – Los Angeles, CA#
07.18 – Santa Barbara Bowl – Santa Barbara, CA#
07.19 – Greek Theatre – Berkeley, CA#
07.20 – The Hangar – South Lake Tahoe, CA
07.22 – Ford Idaho Center Amp – Nampa, ID#
07.23 – The Elm – Bozeman, MT
07.24 – The Granary – Salt Lake City, UT#
07.25 – Washington’s FoCo – Fort Collins, CO
07.26 – Fiddlers Green Amp – Greenwood Village, CO#
07.31 – Higher Ground – Burlington, VT*
08.02 – Osheaga Festival – Montreal, QC*
08.04 – Tree House Brewing Company – Charlton, MA*
08.05 – Levitate Backyard Outdoor Concert Series – Marshfield, MA*
08.06 – Stone Church – Brattleboro, VT*
08.07 – Levon Helm Studios – Woodstock, NY*
08.08 – The Recher – Towson, MD*
08.10 – The Stone Pony – Asbury Park, NJ*
08.12 – Anthology – Rochester, NY*
08.13 – Hi-Fi Annex – Indianapolis, IN*
08.14 – Globe Iron – Cleveland, OH*
08.15 – Bell’s Eccentric Cafe – Kalamazoo, MI

EARLY PRAISE FOR THE MUSIC OF SMALL TALK
“Known for their low-key instrumentation and introspective lyrics, Whitney is back with their first new song since 2023: the sweet new single ‘Darling.’ Framed by soulful piano chords and a driving bass, Julien Ehrlich’s signature lush falsetto sound tells a story that’s revealing and honest. As he’s saying goodbye to his lover, a silky guitar line, sweeping strings, and muted trumpet fill in the romantic soundscape. The result is a breezy and uplifting sound, one of those rare songs that make a heavy topic (in this case, the end of a long relationship) feel more freeing than devastating. It’s a song washed in that refreshing “whatever will be, will be” mentality. A big welcome back to Whitney and their beautifully raw, acoustic sound.” – Paste

“’Darling’ is a short-and-sweet composition that features the warm, welcoming instrumentation Whitney has honed since they first debuted last decade” – Consequence

“a fleeting, addictive country-folk jam… The track flaunts everything quintessentially Whitney” – Paste

“a breezy love song with a keening upper-register lead vocal and some strings and horns mixed in with its pianos and guitars. It’s a pop song, basically, but it’s a sideways and idiosyncratic version of a pop song.” – Stereogum

MORE ABOUT WHITNEY AND SMALL TALK
By Grayson Haver Currin

Small Talk—the fourth and unequivocally best and most affecting album by the Chicago duo Whitney—started before their third one, Spark, was even finished. Sometime in the summer of 2021, they were near El Paso, in the final days of making that record alongside producer Brad Cook. During a studio break, the three drove to the suburbs, got stoned, and played a few games of Topgolf. Over the years, Cook had become a trusted friend and collaborator. On the drive home, as the three were talking about the creative process, Cook turned off the stereo and offered an unexpected bit of advice: Whitney no longer needed him or, for that matter, any producer. Whitney had the vision and skill to make their own records—in fact, it turns out, to make their best one yet.

Julien Ehrlich and Max Kakacek sat with that conversation for nearly two years. In the months after Spark arrived, they finally decided to test it. They had written a new song called “Back to the Wind,” a strutting bit of sad soul, with drum machines and samples, much like they’d made their last batch. How would it sound, though, if they stepped back and played it in real time, with their friend and touring bandmate Ziyad Asrar simply engineering the session? It sounded, turns out, like vintage Whitney reborn, a cantering beat and gentle tremolo guitar moving like the life force that keeps you going after some upending bout of emotional torment. “I knew it all along” went its sweet little hook. Maybe Whitney had known it all along—that they could indeed do this themselves, that they alone could capture their enthusiasms and experiences in 11 incandescent songs given enough time and space. Small Talk is Whitney’s big, hard-earned expression of self-confidence.

Whitney’s sense of liberation arrived right on time, amid intense spells of professional and personal struggle. Spark was admittedly hard, the excitement they felt for its new electronic textures and structures wasn’t exactly reciprocated the way they’d hope it might be. And after a decade of being roommates and bandmates, first in Smith Westerns and then in Whitney, Ehrlich and Kakacek were finally preparing to move out of the same space and in with girlfriends who happened to share the same name. And then, well, they both got dumped in 2023, with Kakacek even getting the call around his birthday, weeks after Ehrlich started dating the woman who is now his wife. For a little while longer, they realized, they would remain roommates, if in very different emotional places. And so, they got to work at home on writing Small Talk, a record that exquisitely crystallizes all of those bittersweet feelings.

For years, Ehrlich’s dad, a drummer, had stockpiled salvaged recording gear in a barn that looked like a little airplane’s hangar in Newberg, Oregon, a small city near the forested banks of the Willamette River. Whitney had never really operated there, but it felt like the optimal space for the sort of sans-producer exploration that their experience with “Back to the Wind” proved they were ready to pursue. Ehrlich had left a tape machine there for a half-decade, and they knew they could rent anything else they needed in nearby Portland. In the summer of 2024, almost exactly three years after Cook said they no longer required his type, the pair installed themselves in Oregon for three weeks, assorted pals dropping by to add parts. The pace was leisurely but steady, Ehrlich and Kakacek no longer concerned they were wasting valuable studio space or money by trying to get a harmony or hook just so. Asrar engineered the whole thing. Together, they took the time to rediscover the core of their chemistry, of Whitney itself.

Small Talk, then, delights on two levels: There are instant classic Whitney songs here, tunes that tug at the same heartfelt melodic strings they’ve always pulled, and still other moments that speak to how much room they gave themselves to evolve. “The Thread” is pure Whitney pop, bright strings lifting the kind of groove and lick The Band might have favoured on a perfect spring day. And there’s “Dandelions,” a cataract of musical pleasantry meant to sweep the sting of romantic disappointment downstream. It’s easy to imagine the song on an FM dial somewhere, bounding out of crusty old speakers between solo McCartney and Nashville Dylan.

But then there’s “Evangeline,” a moving picture of the neuroses that take charge when life lets us down. Concert snares and strings swell like a thrift-shop symphony during the second verse before fading into the distance, as Madison Cunningham steps forward to deliver the other half of this story. Whitney has never indulged such dynamics before, never so fully captured the push and pull of two hearts caught in longing and opposition. And though it details the difficulties of a long-distance relationship, “Won’t You Speak Your Mind?” finds Whitney at their most musically ebullient, locating the rhythmic and melodic space between a disco dancefloor and a yacht bandstand. It feels, like so much of Small Talk, effortless but expert, Ehrlich and Kakacek finally having worked enough to make their pop songs feel as natural as a smile or a frown.

“I’m going to try my best to survive in this place,” Ehrlich sings two minutes into Small Talk, his wondrous falsetto rising through strings like a light beam. This song, “Silent Exchange,” is a snapshot of a funeral, with Ehrlich and Kakacek peering out through bleary eyes to wonder what else there might be for them in this life, in this world. Ten songs later, during the twisting and audacious title track, Ehrlich sings from the imagined perspective of Kakacek’s grandmother, the caretaker for a husband who worked as a professional wrestler for decades. There is an optimistic weariness to her thoughts as she ponders “the feelings you hide to put on a show.” It’s hard not to picture these two old friends, still navigating life’s tandem pitfalls and possibilities by making music together.

This endurance culminates in closer “Darling,” perhaps the most striking and singular number in Whitney’s catalogue. It’s at first a breakup song about being hamstrung by a deeply damaging relationship. Just past the halfway point, however, a new beat emerges, with a flute melody floating above a strutting, triumphant rhythm. It’s a wordless, joyful coda, a final act of getting together with your buds to make music and, in doing so, breaking up with another’s expectations of who you should be. Whitney, in the end, has never sounded quite so free.