However, despite that impressive initial success, the group seemed unable to capitalise on it, and their momentum began to stall – which was surprising after gifting us such an astutely crafted, soaring masterpiece. While the sophomore effort Forever Turned Around offered a gentle, if relatively cautious refinement of Max Kakacek and Julian Ehrlich’s established formula, 2022’s SPARK alienated and bewildered many. The unexpected plunge into electronica and their application of more experimental textures felt occasionally awkward, and ended up becoming a sonic barrier, impeding the beauty they were normally able to conjure so easily.
Such context makes Small Talk a curious proposition. This time, the pair decided to self-produce and utilised vintage recording gear collected by Ehrlich’s father. Both these artistic choices are significant, as you’re immediately struck by just how exquisite the record sounds – it’s Whitney perfectly distilled for 2025. Gorgeous opener “Silent Exchange” is a towering statement of intent and incidentally, confirmation of Kakacek and Ehrlich’s return to the sweeping musical landscapes of Light Upon The Lake. Anchored to an aching piano and strings arrangement worthy of something you’d find on The White Album or Abbey Road, the track’s swaying, ghosting rhythms invoke a band navigating a funereal, phantasmal plane.
Ehrlich’s resplendent falsetto is still at the centre of
everything, but there’s a serious depth here in the writing that
elevates the material above the group’s previous two albums. Whether
it’s the intricacy of the duelling guitar arpeggios underpinning “In The
Saddle”, or the way trumpet and viola intertwine during the climax of
the Madison Cunningham assisted “Evangeline”, the record is packed full
of moments of genuinely breathtaking analogue beauty. On “Damage” and
“Dandelions”, the narrator finds themselves pondering how another life
may have turned out, and displays a desperate melancholy for a time that
has tragically passed them by. Yet, musically, both tracks remain
utterly joyous and such a haunting juxtaposition only strengthens the
emotional pull.
It would be easy to label the reversion back to Ehrlich and Kakacek’s most well-known iteration on Small Talk as
safe, lazy or even as a capitulation. To do so would be deeply unfair
though, because the simple fact is when Whitney are operating in this
ecstatic sphere of glorious, glacial sounds of the late 60s and early 70s, they’re nothing short of irresistible.
