Whitney: Light Upon the Lake album review

The lovely shapes and shimmers on this debut album don't sound as if they're the product of a harsh Chicago winter. That's where guitarist Max Kakacek and drummer Julien Ehrlich began working on these songs after spells with other bands.

While the meat and two veg of the songs came from relationship ups and downs, the hazy musical sauce keeps those bittersweet concerns from becoming too over-cooked. Recorded in California’s San Fernando Valley with Foxygen frontman Jonathan Rado, Light Upon the Lake reminds you of other albums put together in similar pastoral spots.

No Matter Where We Go, No Women and the title track are full of easy-going, romantic, retro drift and dust. These are songs of melancholy and hard-earned truths, but the bright, laidback and likeable tones are what truly chime.

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