Earlier this year, Whitney shared a couple of covers; one of John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” (with Waxahatchee) and another of “Rain” by SWV. At the time they seemed like a one-off, but today the duo have revealed that they have a whole album’s worth of covers incoming; it’s called Candid and comes out on August 14 via Secretly Canadian.
Along with the news they’ve shared a cover of “Hammond Song” by The Roches. They say:
“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.”
The fact that “Hammond Song” is the longest Whitney recording yet is actually great, as it feels like two Whitney songs in one. In fact, if you weren’t familiar with The Roches’ original, you would be sure that this was a Whitney song, as it suits their style so perfectly; wistful melodies, rich golden-era pop sounds, and a vocal line that’s worthy of belting out while driving on a sunny day.
Check out Whitney’s “Hammond Song” below, and scroll down to see the full track list for the upcoming Candid.
Whitney’s Candid comes out on August 14 through Secretly Canadian. The track list is:
1. Bank Head (Kelela)
2. A.M. A.M (Damian Jurado)
3. Take Me Home, Country Roads (Ft. Waxahatchee) (John Denver)
4. High on a Rocky Ledge (Moondog)
5. Something Happen (Jack Arel)
6. Strange Overtones (David Byrne)
7. Hammond Song (The Roches)
8. Crying, Laughing, Loving, Lying (Labi Siffre)
9. Rain (SWV)
10. Rainbows and Ridges (Blaze Foley)
