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Light Upon The Lake

by Whitney

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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Whitney 'Light Upon The Lake' on Cotton Candy vinyl

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Light Upon The Lake on CD in 6-panel wallet.

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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    'Light Upon The Lake' on classic black LP.

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      $16.99 USD

     

  • Limited Edition Picture Disc
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    'Light Upon The Lake' on limited edition picture disc.

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  • Limited Edition Clear Vinyl
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    'Light Upon The Lake' on limited edition clear vinyl LP.

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  • Retail Cassette
    Cassette + Digital Album

    'Light Upon The Lake' on Cassette

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  • Limited Edition Transparent Blue Vinyl
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    'Light Upon The Lake' on limited edition transparent blue vinyl LP.

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  • Whitney / 'Light Upon the Lake' / LP - Secretly Canadian’s 25th Anniversary Edition
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    1. Light Upon the Lake LP on Opaque Red vinyl
    2. Secretly Canadian's 25th Anniversary limited edition color vinyl with exclusive anniversary cover art + obi
    3. Digital download code for the album (as a .zip file containing 320kbps mp3s) redeemable on release day

    Includes a 12x12 print and essay celebrating the artist and album, exclusively for direct orders

    Includes unlimited streaming of Light Upon The Lake via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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1.
No Woman 03:57
I left drinking on the city train To spend some time on the road Then one morning I woke up in LA Caught my breath on the coast I’ve been going through a change I might never be sure I’m just walking in a haze I’m not ready to turn No woman Midnight driving through the bay Going back on the road Coming up and I wish I could stay I’ve been sleeping alone I’ve been going through a change I might never be sure I’m just walking in a haze I’m not ready to turn No woman I left drinking on the city train  To spend some time on the road
2.
The Falls 02:20
Till the falls ran dry I was lost inside morning light I took too much to slow down  These days and nights I can’t be found These days and nights I can’t be found Cause now I’m not too sure I know Which way the rising river flows On the night I lose control Oh dear, don’t you let me go Til the falls ran dry I was up all night chasing time In the morning it turns around  I hope I’m climbing when I’m down I hope I’m climbing when I’m down Cause now I’m not too sure I know Which way the rising river flows On the night I lose control Oh dear, don’t you let me go
3.
Golden Days 04:02
Oh don’t you save me from hangin’ on I tell myself what we had is gone And after all that I put ya through I get knocked out like I never knew It kept me real til’ I’m moving on But you can’t leave feeling like you did no wrong It’s a shame I can’t get it together now It’s a shame we can’t get it together now Cause I’m aching but I fell right in when you gave me up Those golden days snuck away from us Lately I’ve been close but I’m up to trouble Those golden days keep you hanging on It kept me real til I’m movin on But ya can’t leave feeling like you did no wrong It’s a shame I can’t get it together now It’s a shame we can’t get it together now Cause I’m searching for those golden days Na na na na na na
4.
I know you can’t help me now And sometimes people change I’ve been sick since you left town We’ve gotta find a way to feel the same I know it’s hard to give up when I don’t want to be saved Take me in your heart again And I know how to keep you hung up but I won’t do it again Oh I know I wish you were my friend I want you to know I think you’re right Though there’s so much I’ve been going through I’m still the boy you left for nights And I don’t wanna know what I should do I know it’s hard to give up when I don’t want to be saved Take me in your heart again And I know how to keep you hung up but I won’t do it again Don’t you go and leave me here my friend Whoo I know it’s hard to give up when I don’t want to be saved Take me in your heart again And I know how to keep you hung up but I won’t do it again Oh I know I wish you were my friend
5.
Fire across the planes Light upon the lake Lonely haze of dawn When old days are gone Will life get ahead of me? All these times will change I can’t turn away Planes are heading home When old friends are gone Will life get ahead of me?
6.
We’ll make a living darlin’, down the road Cause I’ve got you holding on to see where it goes So don’t you feel lonely I want you to know I can take you out I wanna drive around With you with the windows down And we can run all night When I was walking around I couldn’t see you alone I bought a trash heap two-seat what did we know So don’t you feel lonely no matter where we go I wanna take you out I wanna drive around With you with the windows down And we can run all night Hey mama, don’t slow down I wanna take you out I wanna drive around With you with the windows down And we can run all night
7.
On My Own 02:14
We won’t be surprised again Darlin’ we have no end I know I think we should try again Oh but I want you in my arms I can’t sleep alone when you’re on my mind I’m movin’ slowly when I’m on my own Hurts to see ya go when I know that you’re high again Pushin’ my final pin I can’t seem to kick it all Just forcing the day to end And I know it, we know it Baby I can’t sleep alone when you’re on my mind I’m movin’ slowly when I’m on my own Hurts to see ya go but I won’t say goodbye again
8.
Red Moon 01:42
Instrumental
9.
Polly 03:26
And I know in the past we wanted separate roles Then I chose ya Yeah And I’ve seen the kind of dirt that took my baby from me I never told ya Anytime I feel my week is nearly over I lay awake in all kinds of darkness Polly Oh no no no If only we were young You’d make me feel hung up And I know in the past you left me with no heart How cheap were the nights you used to keep me warm? Girl no no no If only we were young You’d make me feel warm
10.
Follow 03:26
I know I’ll hear the call Anytime On a night when the moon is low On the pines I pray your troubled mind remembers When it’s coming to an end At least the rain won’t come again Still as I ride along Through the night You’re holding on as the ones you know Stand by But if your troubled mind remembers When it’s coming to an end It’s like you’re runnin’ home again And I’ll follow you

about

Whitney make casually melancholic music that combines the wounded drawl of Townes Van Zandt, the rambunctious energy of Jim Ford, the stoned affability of Bobby Charles, the American otherworldliness of The Band, and the slack groove of early Pavement. Their debut, ‘Light Upon the Lake’, is due in June on Secretly Canadian, and it marks the culmination of a short, but incredibly intense, creative period for the band. To say that Whitney is more than the sum of its parts would be a criminal understatement. Formed from the core of guitarist Max Kakacek and singing drummer Julien Ehrlich, the band itself is something bigger, something visionary, something neither of them could have accomplished alone.

Ehrlich had been a member of Unknown Mortal Orchestra, but left to play drums for the Smith Westerns, where he met guitarist Kakacek. That group burned brightly but briefly, disbanding in 2014 and leaving its members adrift. Brief solo careers and side-projects abounded, but nothing clicked. Making everything seem all the more fraught: both of them were going through especially painful breakups almost simultaneously, the kind that inspire a million songs, and they emerged emotionally bruised and lonelier than ever.

Whitney was born from a series of laidback early-morning songwriting sessions during one of the harshest winters in Chicago history, after Ehrlich and Kakacek reconnected - first as roommates splitting rent in a small Chicago apartment and later as musical collaborators passing the guitar and the lyrics sheet back and forth. “We approached it as just a fun thing to do. We never wanted to force ourselves to write a song. It just happened very organically. And we were smiling the whole time, even though some of the songs are pretty sad.” The duo wrote frankly about the break-ups they were enduring and the breakdowns they were trying to avoid. Each served as the other’s most brutal critic and most sympathetic confessor, a sounding board for the hard truths that were finding their way into new songs like “No Woman” and “Follow,” a eulogy for Ehrlich’s grandfather.

In exorcising their demons they conjured something else, something much more benign—a third presence, another personality in the music, which they gave the name Whitney. They left it singular to emphasize its isolation and loneliness. Says Kakacek, “We were both writing as this one character, and whenever we were stuck, we’d ask, ‘What would Whitney do in this situation?’ We personified the band name into this person, and that helped a lot. We wrote the record as though one person were playing everything. We purposefully didn’t add a lot of parts and didn’t bother making everything perfect, because the character we had in mind wouldn’t do that.”

In those imperfections lies the music’s humanity. Whilst they demoed and toured the new songs, they became more aware of the perfect imperfections of the songs, and needing to strike the right balance, they eventually made the trek out to California, where they recorded with Foxygen frontman and longtime friend, Jonathan Rado. They slept in tents in Rado’s backyard, ate the same breakfast every morning at the same diner in the remote, desolate and completely un-rock n roll San Fernando Valley, whilst they dreamt of Laurel Canyon, or maybe The Band’s hideout in Malibu, or Neil Young’s ranch in Topanga Canyon.

The analog recording methods, the same as used by their forebearers, allowed them to concentrate on the songs themselves and create moments that would be powerful and unrepeatable. “Tape forces you to get a take down,” says Kakacek. “We didn’t have enough tracks to record ten takes of a guitar part and choose the best one later. Whatever we put down is all we had. That really makes you as a musician focus on the performance.” The sessions were loose, with room for improvisation and new ideas, as the band expanded from that central duo into a dynamic sextet (septet if you count their trusty soundman). And that’s what you hear – Whitney is the sound of that songwriting duo expanding their group and delivering the sound of a band at their freest, their loosest, their giddiest.

Classic and modern at the same time, they revel in concrete details, evocative turns of phrase, and thorny emotions that don’t have exact names. These ten songs on 'Light Upon the Lake' sound like they could have been written at any time in the last fifty years. Ehrlich and Kakacek emerge as imaginative and insightful songwriting partners, impressive in their scope and restraint as they mold classic rock lyricism into new and personal shapes without sound revivalist or retro. “I’m searching for those golden days.” sings Ehrlich, with a subtle ripple of something that sounds like hope, on the track “Golden Days”. It’s a song that defines Whitney as a band. “There’s a lot of true feeling behind these songs,” says Ehrlich. “We wanted them to have a part of our personalities in them. We wanted the songs to have soul.”

credits

released June 3, 2016

Whitney is:

Julien Ehrlich - vocals, percussion
Mcmillen Kakacek - guitar
Josiah Marshall - bass
Malcolm Brown - keys, backup vocals
William Miller - horns

"No Woman"
Macie Stewart - strings

"The Falls"
Macie Stewart - strings

"Golden Days"
Macie Stewart - strings
Jesse Ward - choir vocals
Emily Sher - choir vocals
Ruby Oram - choir vocals
Nora Chin - choir vocals
Elyse Kakacek - choir vocals
John Kakacek - choir vocals
Jasmine Mendoza - choir vocals
Timmothy ‘2 sox’ Parker - choir vocals
Nicole Mizgalski - choir vocals

"Light Upon the Lake"
Macie Stewart - strings

"No Matter Where We Go"
Jon Rado - keys

"On My Own"
Macie Stewart - strings

"Red Moon"
Jon Rado - piano

"Polly"
Macie Stewart - strings
Jesse Ward - choir vocals
Emily Sher - choir vocals
Ruby Oram - choir vocals
Nora Chin - choir vocals
Elyse Kakacek - choir vocals
John Kakacek - choir vocals
Jasmine Mendoza - choir vocals
Timmothy ‘2 sox’ Parker - choir vocals
Nicole Mizgalski - choir vocals

"Follow"
Myra Hinrichs - strings
Jesse Ward - choir vocals
Emily Sher - choir vocals
Ruby Oram - choir vocals
Nora Chin - choir vocals
Elyse Kakacek - choir vocals
John Kakacek - choir vocals
Jasmine Mendoza - choir vocals
Timmothy ‘2 sox’ Parker - choir vocals
Nicole Mizgalski - choir vocals

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Whitney Chicago, Illinois

Whitney was born from a series of laidback early-morning songwriting sessions during one of the harshest winters in Chicago history, after Julien Ehrlich and Max Kakacek (former members of Smith Westerns) reconnected - first as roommates splitting rent in a small Chicago apartment and later as musical collaborators passing the guitar and the lyrics sheet back and forth. ... more

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