Album Review: Light Upon the Lake - Whitney
9.1/10
Background: Once upon a time (that time being 2007-2014) there was a band by the name of Smith Westerns. This group of kids (the quintet was high school aged when they released their debut album) made a solid, slap shaped smack in the swimming pool that is indie rock with three excellent glam-rock inspired albums before announcing an indefinite hiatus and, eventually, their break up. It all seemed to be over in the blink of an eye, but to burn out seemed logical for a band such as Smith Westerns. In the aftermath, frontman Cullen Omori began a solo career of little note, while members Max Kakacek and Julian Ehrlich went on to become the drummer/lead vocalist and guitar player of a new band named Whitney. While Smith Westerns explored the work of 70s glam rock heavy hitters such as early David Bowie and Marc Bolan, Whitney takes a different approach to the era. Whitney's music finds its roots in the music of The Band, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Allen Toussaint. This album also takes heavy influence from the delicate, ethereal nature of Chicago soul with its use of bold yet gentle horns and the vocal/melodic stylings of Ehrlich's vocals.
Review: Many reviewers are praising this album on account of its subtlety, and how it encourages a listener to take pleasure in the small details of each song. While this is indeed a LP filled with hidden pleasures, especially in regards to Kakacek's beautiful yet intricate lead guitar lines, but this is also an album of great immediacy. Take, for example, the standout track "Golden Days." This remarkable track ends with an anything-but-subtle climax filled with slide guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, horns, tambourines, piano, deep bass, and a "na-na-na" outro. It is truly impressive to behold the amount of instrumentation happening at once here, and it makes for one of the albums most transcendent and immediately enjoyable moments. The rest of the song is a devastating tale of a relationship past its peak. The lyrics in the chorus are particularly potent, with Ehrlich singing "It’s a shame I can’t get it together now/It’s a shame we can’t get it together now" over an especially soul crushing chord change. This makes for an especially emotional (and catchy) chorus on an album full of them. Playing foil to "Golden Days" and its dreary, tired sulking is the bright and vibrant "No Matter Where We Go." This song is just as immediate as "Golden Days" yet takes a different approach to love. "No Matter Where We Go" is about being in love, and the joy that comes with it. The instrumentation is sunny and sharp, as well as the lyrics. The chorus "I can take you out/I wanna drive around/With you with the windows down/And we can run all night" reads slightly juvenile on paper, but certainly does not come off that way in the context of the song. This is a nearly universal sentiment, wanting to drive and escape with the one you love, and is captured brilliantly (and again, catchily) by the band through their lyrics and their performance.
Yet, there is a reason for all this talk about subtlety. Take, for example, the albums quieter numbers like "On My Own", the title track, and the album's opener "No Woman." These tracks largely lack the bombastic nature of songs like "Golden Days" or "No Matter Where We Go" yet are equally enjoyable as the album's flashier moments ("On My Own" is my personal favorite on the LP). Largely to thank for this is Kakacek's beautiful guitar work (the learning of which by ear has been the bane of my existence for the past few weeks. It can't be too much to ask for a guitarist more skilled than myself to cover or tab out a few of these songs). I have used the word "beautiful" twice now to describe the same guitar playing, but no better word comes to mind. Kakacek's playing is both highly melodic and complicated, but never advanced to the point where technical skill begins to overpower good musical sense. All three of these songs highlight his ability to create memorable lead guitar lines that contribute to the song as a whole, stand alone as individual melodic and developed pieces, and allow Kakacek to flex some guitar skills without compromising the integrity of the band's unity. Other subtle joys on these songs include the arpeggiated opening piano to "No Woman," which to me sounds similar in both tone and melody to the one that plays throughout "Mr. Sandman" by The Chordettes, the moment when the rest of the band kicks in during "On My Own" and the little fingerpicked riff/refrain that plays after each line in "Light Upon The Lake," where Kakacek deftly alternates between fingerpicked individual notes and small chord shapes to create a neat little guitar melody.
The last three tracks I'd like to discuss, "Polly" "Dave's Song" and "Follow," are three of the album's strongest, but are also three tracks where the band's work in Smith Westerns becomes more apparent. "Dave's Song" in particular features a slowed down post-chorus with piercing slide guitars that sounds reminiscent of one of Smith Western's crowning achievements: the song "Still New." There are actually a few similarities between "Dave's Song" and "Still New," such as the way the lyrical melody follows the instrumentation during the verses, as well as both song's somber moods. Yet rather than sounding like the best B-side Mott the Hoople never released, as is the case with "Still New," "Dave's Song" sounds perhaps like the best B-side The Band never released. This unconscious (or maybe intentional???) updating of ideas explored with Smith Westerns makes for some of the album's best songs. The two other songs, "Polly" and "Follow" are also standouts, especially "Polly." This horn led track makes for one of the album's highlights, and really lets horn player Will Miller shine. This song's delicate keyboards, tragic lyrics, and beautiful chord changes are also incredible, but this is a constant across all the songs here. "Polly" is potentially the best song on this record, as it features the heavy emotions of "Golden Days" as well as the subtlety of "On My Own."
Now for the unpleasant paragraph. I "only" gave this album a 9.1, so what is responsible for the .9? The short answer is innovation. While these songs are by far the most well constructed and well played tracks we will hear this year, they are simply that. They bring nearly nothing to the table that has not been done before. The right way to put it might be that the boys in Whitney wear their influences a little too proudly on their sleeves at times. While there is nothing wrong with this, it doesn't make for a 10/10 album to revive and re do other people's ideas, even if you revive and re do them in a staggeringly well done way and even if those ideas are some of the most underappreciated in the history of modern music. In the future, the band might consider taking from a more diverse set of music cues in order to drive up their innovation. In my head, I can see their next album incorporating influences such as 50s pop, funk, hard rock, southern rock, disco, and even jazz with ease, all of which could make for some unique and inventive songs. One thing that certainly does not drive down the score for me is Ehrlich's voice, something which nearly every reviewer has commented on before me. While yes, Ehrlich's voice is not perfect and it can be slightly off-putting to some, it is not in any way a downside to the album. Ehrlich's falsetto perfectly straddles a line between femininity and masculinity, between skill and a passionate amateur, and between heartbreak and joy. While it might take some a few songs to adjust to its pitch, it is certainly not a reason to discredit the band and it is certainly not a downside to a nearly perfect album, and Ehrlich's singing (especially live) will only continue to improve.
In all, Whitney destroyed my expectations with this album. Their initial singles showed a mountain of potential, but the album that followed completely blew past that bar. It is rare for a band to reach a level such as this on their first project, and Whitney has done it in a way that feels effortless. Unlike many other one album wonders, it does not feel like Whitney has captured lightning in a bottle here. It does not feel like Whitney had an out of body experience when creating this work of art, leading them to never be able to reach heights such as this again. I am confident that this band will be able to improve on their next album, and will be around for many albums in the future. Until then, we just have to keep playing Light Upon the Lake as we watch another summer fade into fall, and wait for the day that Dylan Ehrlich and co. decide to bless us with another album.
HIGHPOINTS: "No Woman" "Golden Days" "Dave's Song" "Light Upon the Lake" "No Matter Where We Go" "On My Own" "Polly" "Follow"
LOWPOINTS: "Red Moon" (feels largely unnecessary)
RECOMMENDED ALBUMS: The Band - The Band, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - Wilco, Cosmo's Factory - Creedence Clearwater Revival, Sweetheart of the Rodeo - The Byrds
