Whitney Detail New Album Forever Turned Around, Release Heartfelt Lead Single “Giving Up”

Rising country-soul stars Whitney have at long last detailed their much-anticipated sophomore album, Forever Turned Around, out Aug. 30 via Secretly Canadian. The long-awaited reveal arrives this morning alongside the LP’s proper lead single, the heavy-hearted, yet lovely “Giving Up.”

Whitney, led by vocalist/drummer Julien Ehrlich and guitarist Max Kakacek, teased their album title earlier this week with the mostly instrumental single “FTA,” which they later clarified was a rework of their latest’s closing track:

Of course you should consume the new tracks however you want but full disclosure… FTA is a reworking of the last song on our new album. Lead single coming later this week

— Whitney (@whitneytheband) June 3, 2019

“Giving Up,” meanwhile, is their new album’s opener, a dynamic entreaty to an increasingly distant long-term lover. Soft cymbal taps and sparing, plucked guitar notes evoke the serene darkness just before the dawn, even before Ehrlich’s falsetto vocals crystallize that moment in words: “Waiting for the morning sun / Are you coming home, my love? / Tears are falling one by one / I can feel you giving up.” A lilting bass line punches up the choruses, the second of which culminates in a false ending, as if the song itself were surrendering—horns break the silence and are soon joined by Kakacek’s lively guitar, like the first fingers of sunlight reaching out over the horizon, suggesting brighter days to come.

Forever Turned Around is the follow-up to Whitney’s acclaimed 2016 debut Light Upon the Lake, which Paste ranked among that year’s best albums. A press release describes the group’s second full-length as “an album about partnership—romantic, familial and communal, but most importantly a love in friendship: the bonds between two best friends and creative partners, and the joy and stress that comes with it.”

Brad Cook (Bon Iver, Hand Habits) and Jonathan Rado (Weyes Blood, Father John Misty) co-produced Forever Turned Around, the earliest material for which Whitney wrote on the road. The album began taking shape in earnest when Ehrlich and Kakacek reunited with the band’s original rhythm guitarist Ziyad Asrar, piecing Forever Turned Around together over multiple sessions in Asrar’s basement Chicago studio, where they did the bulk of their work on Light Upon the Lake. Chicago musicians Lia Kohl and OHMME’s Macie Stewart contributed strings to the album.

Whitney will perform a hometown set at Chicago’s Pitchfork Music Festival in July before heading out on a full-fledged European and North American tour that begins in August, spanning September, October and November before concluding with a Dublin show on Dec. 1. The band’s full touring lineup sees Ehrlich and Kakacek accompanied by keyboardist Malcolm Brown, guitarist Print Chouteau, bassist Josiah Marshall and trumpeter Will Miller, along with a returning Asrar. Tickets for all dates are now on sale.

Listen to “Giving Up” below, find the details of Forever Turned Around further down and keep scrolling for Whitney’s tour itinerary. You can preorder their new album here.

Forever Turned Around Tracklist:
01. Giving Up
02. Used To Be Lonely
03. Before I Know It
04. Song For Ty
05. Valleys (My Love)
06. Rhododendron
07. My Life Alone
08. Day & Night
09. Friend of Mine
10. Forever Turned Around

Forever Turned Around Album Art:

Whitney Tour Dates:

July
19-21 – Chicago, Ill. @ Pitchfork Music Festival

August
09 – Rees-Haldern, Germany @ Haldern Pop Festival
11 – Castelbuono, Italy @ Ypsigrock Festival
13 – Bergen, Norway @ Landmark
15 – Trondheim, Norway @ Pstereo
16 – Brecon Beacons, U.K. @ Green Man
17 – Mechelen, Belgium @ Pukkelpop
18 – Biddinghuizen, Netherlands @ Lowlands Festival

September
09 – Bloomington, Ind. @ Bluebird
10 – St. Louis, Mo. @ Delmar Hall
11 – Kansas City, Mo. @ The Truman
12 – Dallas, Texas @ Canton Hall
13 – Austin, Texas @ Mohawk – SOLD OUT
14 – Austin, Texas @ Mohawk
15 – Houston, Texas @ Satellite
17 – New Orleans, La. @ Tipitina’s
18 – Birmingham, Ala. @ Saturn
20 – Atlanta, Ga. @ Variety Playhouse
21 – Chapel Hill, N.C. @ Cat’s Cradle
22 – Richmond, Va. @ The National
23 – Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club
26 – Pittsburgh, Pa. @ Mr. Smalls Theatre
27 – Philadelphia, Pa. @ Union Transfer
28 – Accord, N.Y. @ Woodsist Festival
29 – Burlington, Vt. @ Higher Ground

October
01 – Portsmouth, N.H. @ 3S Artspace
02 – Boston, Mass. @ Royale
03 – Brooklyn, N.Y. @ Brooklyn Steel
04 – Brooklyn, N.Y. @ Brooklyn Steel – SOLD OUT
17 – Minneapolis, Minn. @ First Avenue
18 – Milwaukee, Wis. @ Turner Hall
19 – Omaha, Neb. @ Slowdown
21 – Denver, Colo. @ Ogden Theatre
23 – Salt Lake City, Utah @ Metro
24 – Boise, Idaho @ Knitting Factory
25 – Seattle, Wash. @ Neptune Theatre
26 – Vancouver, B.C. @ Hollywood Theatre
27 – Portland, Ore. @ Revolution Hall
30 – Chico, Calif. @ The Big Room at Sierra Nevada Brewery

November
01 – San Francisco, Calif. @ The Warfield Theatre
02 – Los Angeles, Calif. @ The Wiltern
03 – San Diego, Calif. @ Observatory San Diego
04 – Santa Ana, Calif. @ Yost Theater
08 – Reykjavik, Iceland @ Iceland Airwaves
10 – Cologne, Germany @ Luxor
12 – Zurich, Switzerland @ Bogen F
14 – Munich, Germany @ Strom
15 – Berlin, Germany @ Lido
17 – Copehagen, Denmark @ Store Vega
18 – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Paradiso
21 – Paris, France @ Trabendo
23 – Bristol, U.K. @ SWX
25 – Cambridge, U.K. @ The Junction
26 – Nottingham, U.K. @ Rescue Rooms
27 – Glasgow, U.K. @ QMU
28 – Manchester, U.K. @ Albert Hall
29 – London, U.K. @ Roundhouse

December
01 – Dublin, Ireland @ The Academy