It takes a lot to be happy in music. With their new band Whitney, former Smith Westerns songwriter/guitarist Max Kakacek and drummer Julien Ehrlich have hit upon a sweet spot that not only translates when you listen to their gorgeous debut album ‘Light Upon The Lake’, but also drives everything they do as a band.
Witness the six-piece Chicago act live and you’ll see a mesh of stretched smiles as they play their woozy blend of countrified soul. Positive vibes are as important to their music as their Vox AC30 amps. It’s hugely infectious to watch, because it’s been such a long time since anybody else in the indie stratosphere has employed such a trait so believably. With Whitney, it’s as if Kakacek and Ehrlich (who here sings lead and plays drums) are two kids who’ve come from broken homes and suddenly found their stride again. Both were visibly unhappy when Smith Westerns petered out in 2014, which is perhaps why their initial concept for starting Whitney – the name refers to a fictional character; a ‘somebody’ of their own making to write songs for – was so appealing. From opener ‘No Woman’, 2016’s most affecting and beautiful song, you’re with them all the way.
All 10 tracks on ‘Light Upon The Lake’ share a serene, peaceful bond, with Ehrlich’s startling falsetto bringing to mind Bobby Charles and Shuggie Otis, two genial artists whose personalities have always shone through on their records. Childlike, honest and a touch bruised, Ehrlich joins their ranks as a promising young pretender. Kakacek, meanwhile, was always a gifted musician in Smith Westerns. But whereas his tightly wound riffs used to pay homage to the powerful techniques of Britpop-era Noel Gallagher and Bernard Butler, here he plays the subtle card to perfection. The whole band do, with a glorious gospel mood empowering and binding them.
Bass, horns, strings, organ and choir provide the backbone, and when Whitney allow themselves to kick it up a gear and really let rip, as on ‘Golden Days’ (with its cathartic “Na na na” outro) or the George Harrison-meets-The Band magnificence of ‘Dave’s Song’, they’re untouchable. “I may or may not have come close to crying,” admitted Ehrlich about recording his parts for the album. Listen closely and you might too.
