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Words by Graeme Elliott

On the 23^rd August the Hare & Hounds plays host to Whitney. The laid back seven-piece from Chicago are currently touring the UK backed by a surge of industry buzz, with their debut album – Light Upon the Lake, eliciting acclaim across the music press.

Advance tickets for the gig, presented by the ever busy This is Tmrw, will set you back £10 plus booking fee – for further information & online ticket sales click here. Doors open at 7.30pm, with Birmingham’s own Swampmeat Family Band playing in support.

Whitney were formed by guitarist Max Kakacek and singer/drummer Julien Ehrlich following the demise of their previous band Smith Westerns, whose music has a timeless quality to it; a mellow Americana swathed in nostalgia.

The name Whitney was devised as the name of fictional singer songwriter, a cipher to channel their song writing through. However the personal nature of Whitney’s music belies this fact; they are not shy in baring more than their souls either, as the band’s Instagram pictures also show. But perhaps taking a more detached attitude towards the song writing process has allowed them to explore this side of themselves more readily within their music.

Whitey’s songs themselves manage to make complex arrangements sound clean, warm and effortless; their studio recordings layering strings and brass with falsetto vocals and melodic, but understated, lead guitar work. Whitney trade the hazy reverb of Smith Westerns for a more direct, but no less atmospheric, sound.

Although despite the gentle nature of Whitney’s music, their performance promises to be a lively proposition, with Julian Ehrlich claiming “we bend the instrumentals, there’s more energy, some stage banter”.

And with Whitney numbering seven, as such a high head count crams itself onto one stage this isn’t surprising. As someone who finds their debut album a little too relaxed at times it will be interesting to see how their songs transform in a live setting.

To get a taste of what to expect check out their video for ‘No Woman’, the lead single from Whitney’s debut album – Light Upon the Lake.

‘No Woman’ by Whitney

Whitney play at the Hare & Hounds (Kings Heath) on Tues 23^rd August, with support from Swampmeat Family Band – as presented by This Is Tmrw. For direct gig info & online tickets sales, click here.

For more on Whitney, visit www.whitneytheband.com/

For more on Swampmeat Family Band, visit www.facebook.com/Swampmeat-Family-Band

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For more from This Is Tmrw, visit www.thisistmrw.co.uk

For more from the Hare & Hounds, visit www.hareandhoundskingsheath.co.uk

Words by Helen Knott

On Friday 22 July, Moon Duo performs at the Hare and Hounds in King’s Heath – as presented by This is Tmrw and Lunar Festival. Doors open at 7pm, with a 10pm curfew.

Tickets are priced at £10 (advance). For direct gig info & online ticket sales click here.

Moon Duo’s gig at the Hare and Hounds is the first of a four-date UK tour in support of their third album Shadow of the Sun, released last year through Sacred Bones Records.

Moon Duo first emerged as a Wooden Shjips side project, led by the band’s guitarist and singer Ripley Johnson. During breaks between Wooden Shjips records and tours Johnson would team up with his synth-playing wife Sanae Yamada to create music not-too-far removed from the mother shjip. The first Moon Duo album Mazes, released in 2011, features long, mysterious fuzzes with extended, noodling guitar solos that could easily have appeared amidst the psych drone of Wooden Shjips’ Back to Land or West.

In recent years, however, Wooden Shjips have been active only sporadically (though a four date UK tour is booked in for the autumn) and Moon Duo has moved out of the Shjips’ shadow. The music has developed alongside this, with last year’s album Shadow of the Sun featuring a more refined and poppy sound.

It’s still fuzzy, repetitive psych rock (indeed, it could be argued that it’s a little too repetitive on occasion) but it’s also much more focused. The addition of drummer John Jeffrey to the full time line-up provides an added dynamism that should be particularly effective live.

For Johnson the point of psychedelic music is “getting you outside of your normal space and transporting you away from it.” It’s up to you to decide if Moon Duo achieves that at the Hare and Hounds tomorrow night. They will be amply supported in their task by Birmingham’s post punkers Victories at Sea – well worth turning up early for.

Check out the video for ‘Animal’, the first single from Shadow of the Sun. It features professional skater Richie Jackson skating on everything but a skateboard:

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BPREVIEW: Whitney @ Hare & Hounds, 23.08

BPREVIEW: Moon Duo @ Hare & Hounds 22.07.16