Whitney Announces Covers Album ‘Candid’ & Shares Single

Whitney will release Candid, an album consisting of 10 covers, via Secretly Canadian on August 14. The Chicago-based duo consisting of Julien Erlich and Max Kakacek previewed Candid by sharing their cover of The Roches’ “Hammond Song.”

Candid also contains covers of songs by John Denver, SWV, Kelela, David Byrne and more. Whitney recruited Waxahatchee (Katie Crutchfield) to contribute to their version of Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” In May, Whitney released both “Take Me Home, Country Roads” and “Rain” (SWV).

“This could’ve been as simple as saying we really love these songs and we love our bandmates and making a covers record just felt right but it truly became an exploration into how we can evolve as a band going forward,” explained Ehrlich in a statement announcing the LP.

Read more from Julien about “Hammond Song”:

We both discovered “Hammond Song” because Chris Coady sent it to us years ago as a reference for recording when we were making the last Smith Westerns record. It became a song that was always around for us and then we showed it to the rest of the band. This cover is the longest Whitney recording ever and pretty much everything you hear on it is totally live, save for the horns and the slide solo. For a five minute song, if you mess up one part you have to do the whole thing live all over again.

Stream Whitney’s version of “Hammond Song” below:

Candid Tracklist

1. Bank Head
2. A.M. A.M
3. Take Me Home, Country Roads (Ft. Waxahatchee)
4. High on a Rocky Ledge
5. Something Happen
6. Strange Overtones
7. Hammond Song
8. Crying, Laughing, Loving, Lying
9. Rain
10. Rainbows and Ridges