Chicago duo Whitney are back with their third studio album of originals, Spark, which will be out September 16 via Secretly Canadian. While their soulful songwriting style remains, this is a very different record than they've made before. After writing songs during pandemic lockdown -- which they spent in Portland, OR -- they teamed up with producers Brad Cook and John Congleton, who helped them incorporate synthesizers and sampled beats into their sound.
The first single off the record is "Real Love" which Julien Ehrlich and Max Kakacek say they wrote right after they moved back to Chicago in June 2021. "I was experiencing heightened levels of anxiety and panic, while the entire city was re-emerging from isolation," says Julien. "Iʼve been running away from and self medicating my anxiety for as long as I can remember, but for whatever reason, it felt like it was time to dive straight into it. During late night sessions over a two week period, we captured the embrace of anxiety and fear in a way that resonated with us immediately. We spent the next few summer nights driving on Ashland with the windows down and the song turned up. It felt like an emotional and musical burst of light and weʼre so grateful to finally be sharing that with people.”