Whitney – “County Lines” & “Memory”

The singles so far from Whitney’s new album Spark have found the sweetly pastoral Chicago pop-rock band injecting a bit of electronics into their sound, as bands do, while still maintaining their essential vibe. Today they’ve got two more previews of the album, which again sound like organic riff-driven grooves spruced up with late 20th century keyboard and drum machine action. “Memory” is an upbeat pop track with a string arrangement by Trey Pollard. “County Lines” is a soft piano ballad with some low-key pocket-symphony vibes thanks to an arrangement by Rob Moose and saxophone by Sam Gendel. Both are as pretty as you’d expect from these guys, especially with Julien Ehrlich’s falsetto soaring all over the place.

The band shared this statement on “MEMORY”:

The lyrics of “MEMORY” illustrate someone processing and eventually accepting their fear of death,” explain the band. “Halfway through writing the song our bandmate Will Miller sent along the chords for what would become the outro of the song without ever hearing “MEMORY.” It was one of those harmonious moments where two separate ideas somehow fit together immediately. The final third speaking to the afterlife in a way we wouldn’t have been able to match with words.

Hear both tracks below.

Spark is out 9/16 on Secretly Canadian.