Damage Done So Kindly: Whitney’s Newest EP is a Warm Welcome to Small Talk
Small Talk/Damage album/EP cover
If warmth were a band, I think it’d be Whitney. Vocals that evoke a meek honesty, a slicing guitar crying us forward, lingering on to ascension through uplifting melodies, and a percussive section that coddles the work to make it perfectly whole, Whitney has sublimely encapsulated a near-perfect discography of heart-string-pulling introspection. Needless to say, I’m excited for the larger album, Small Talk, coming in early November (aka, you’ll be hearing from me again on the topic of Whitney in about a month) and even more excited that they’ve decided to EP-ify four of those songs before the full release. I’m impatient, what can I say?
Damage, Whitney’s EP preceding their upcoming album Small Talk, is not only solidifying them as a band with a spotless discography, but is also providing us with a perfect anticipation of what’s to come. Opening with the title of the EP itself, “Damage” begins soft and mellow with the pings of a bright piano and a rather unobtrusive vocalist (who, I recognize, has a muffled, whiney tone, an understandably acquired taste, but is one that I find complements the band’s overall vibe). They bob on this mellow melody for an unassuming intro verse while teasing us with the guitar, until the chorus, when that same guitar leads us smashing (tenderly) into a full sound. What I always appreciate with Whitney is that they rarely incite unfulfilling magnetization; it always pulls us into something grander, something full, something transcendental. I’m rarely left anticipating a melody will get somewhere it never does, I’m rarely left uncompelled and unfulfilled. “Damage” is a great example of their propensity for satisfaction, and lyrically it is harrowing (yeah, fine, I cried… and what about it?).
“Back to the Wind” is the second on the EP, and thank God the brass section is making an appearance. A sonic tentativeness only on the lines “People change// I’m okay// nothing’s wrong” only to grow in tension as he reiterates, “I knew it all along,” it’s a happy tune of content acceptance with compelling dynamics, a rich brass section, and enlightening strings.
Piggybacking off the tone of “Back to the Wind”, “Dandelions” slides us through a verse and a chorus, offering that same upbeat sentiment and a truly gratified chorus. The song is aptly named in that I want to run and lay in a field of flowers to this sound, it’s the warmth of the sun on your smiling face. I love the lush outro of horns pitter-pattering as the song dies down.
“Darling” was the first single from this work to be released, and it is a spectacular song of sonic growth. It begins with some coy piano chords into a simple instrumentation that follows the melody fairly closely, and is accented by a simple snap of percussion clicking beneath. This method is followed throughout the entire first half of the song, building only meagerly with light strings and tasteful little trumpet riffs that I adore. As the strings sustain, a drum fill and a light set of woodwinds tap on to seemingly drop off into the end of the song. Instead, the song comes back full force for a second section that heightens emotionally as layers of strings are added atop each other, each measure to make for an awe-inspiring, illuminating sound packed with strings, woodwinds, horns, you name it, they brought in the whole damn orchestra. It’s by far the best on the EP, and probably a great contender for best on the album despite the rest of the album still being unreleased.
Whitney live
What I really love about this album is the story these songs comprise. This is the story of a couple at their end and the meager attempt at resilience within that. “Damage” tells of a solemn and noble acceptance of their inability to mend themselves back to what they once were; an in-another-life mantra. “Back to the Wind” ignites us with an uplifting acceptance and a consequential newfound vigor; a contented, hopeful sentiment. But the repetition of the line “I knew it all along” has, to a lesser degree, a similar effect that the “Know it’s for the better” line has in Phoebe Bridgers’s “Waiting Room”; it’s an attempt at self-reassurance, contesting if we’re truly secure in our sentiments. “Dandelions” seems like the security we perhaps needed in the preceding, reiterating a contentedness in the end and a rejection of any bitterness. “Darling” seems a subversion of that serene acceptance, though, claiming the roughness of the end and some low points between the two. I find it interesting that it’s placed at the end of the EP when it seems to be the initial reaction to a breakup, whereas the other three songs are the later acceptances. I’m chalking it up to them saving the best for last.
Founding members of Whitney, Julien Ehrlich (left, drums) and Max Kakacek (right, guitar)
So much of Whitney's essence consists of beginning wistful, silky, unassuming, and then growing and bursting into the sonic equivalent of some vat of great light. They have this unique effect wherein their lyrics leave the listener ruminating or reminiscing over the past, while also sparking a sonic drive that has you looking forward to something. Their sound consistently first coaxes you to tenderhearted pensiveness and then illuminates to ping you into the soft smile of a hopeful future. I am hoping that this EP follows that very tendency; that Damage is the unwavering gentle coax, and Small Talk is the burst of convictions of kind hope. I have no doubt they’ll deliver, but you’ll just have to wait until November. Until then, I’ll be ruminating and reminiscing.