Whitney – Small Talk

Three years after the more pop-leaning long-player Spark, Whitney reconnect more strongly with their early sound on their new album Small Talk. It opens with the melancholic »Silent Exchange« and the question of how to find one’s place in the world again after losing a loved one. Disguised as a buoyant disco number, »Won’t You Speak Your Mind?« follows, addressing a long-distance relationship slipping out of reach.

When Julian Ehrlich and Max Kakacek were writing the album, one had just been left, while the other was getting married. As on their previous records, break-ups, disappointment and hurt feelings form the red thread running through Small Talk. Yet after the dramatic build-up and the promise of the opening two songs, the sense of discovering something new gradually fades. Several tracks blur into one another due to similar arrangements and quickly slip from memory.

That is, until the lush orchestration and the tender voice of Grammy-winning folk singer Madison Cunningham on »Evangeline« command attention once more. A little more of that grandeur – and of the wistful soul found in the following track »Back To The Wind« – would have benefited the album.