Whitney, aka the Chicago duo of Julien Ehlrich and Max Kakacek, have announced the follow-up to their 2019 album Forever Turned Around. SPARK is out September 16 and features the lead single and video, “REAL LOVE.”

Written in Portland and Chicago, SPARK was finished in Texas with producers Brad Cook and John Congleton. “We had time to just sit and watch the body of work grow in real time,” Ehlrich says. “We were just stacking stronger and stronger songs on top of each other.” Kakacek adds: “Our favorite way to make records, the way we made the first one.”

Of “REAL LOVE,” whose video is directed by Aaron Brown, Ehlrich says: “Max and I wrote ʻREAL LOVEʼ in June 2021 right after a cross-country move back to Chicago. I was experiencing heightened levels of anxiety and panic, while the entire city was re-emerging from isolation. Iʼve been running away from and self medicating my anxiety for as long as I can remember, but for whatever reason, it felt like it was time to dive straight into it. During late night sessions over a two week period, we captured the embrace of anxiety and fear in a way that resonated with us immediately. We spent the next few summer nights driving on Ashland with the windows down and the song turned up. It felt like an emotional and musical burst of light and weʼre so grateful to finally be sharing that with people.”

Listen and watch below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “NOTHING REMAINS”
02 “BACK THEN”
03 “BLUE”
04 “TWIRL”
05 “REAL LOVE”
06 “MEMORY”
07 “SELF”
08 “NEVER CROSSED MY MIND”
09 “TERMINAL”
10 “HEART WILL BEAT”
11 “LOST CONTROL”
12 “COUNTY LINES”

TOURDATES:
09/29 – Davenport, IA @ Raccoon Motel
09/30 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Ave
10/01 – Milwaukee, WI @ Pabst Theater
10/03 – Fort Collins, CO @ The Aggie
10/04 – Denver, CO @ Gothic Theatre
10/05 – Albuquerque, NM @ Sunshine Theater
10/07 – Oklahoma City, OK @ Jones Assembly
10/08 – Columbia, MO @ Blue Note
10/09 – St Louis, MO @ Delmar Hall
10/11 – Oxford, MS @ The Lyric
10/12 – Birmingham, AL @ Saturn
10/14 – Miami, FL @ Miami Beach Bandshell
10/15 – Tampa, FL @ The Orpheum
10/17 – Orlando, FL @ House of Blues
10/19 – Jacksonville, FL @ Intuition Ale Works
10/20 – Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
10/22 – Athens, GA @ Georgia Theatre
10/23 – Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel
10/24 – Charleston, SC @ Music Farm
10/25 – Carrboro, NC @ Catʼs Cradle
10/26 – Charlottesville, VA @ Jefferson Theater
10/28 – Nashville, TN @ Eastside Bowl
10/30 – Indianapolis, IN @ The Vogue
11/06 – Paris, FR @ Trabendo
11/08 – Antwerp, BE @ De Roma
11/09 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
11/10 – Cologne, DE @ Bürgerhaus Stollwerck
11/11 – Munich, DE @ Freiheizhalle
11/12 – Zurich, CN @ Mascotte
11/13 – Berlin, DE @ Columbia Theater
11/15 – Hamburg, DE @ Mojo Club
11/16 – Copenhagen, DK @ VEGA
11/17 – Oslo, NO @ Rockefeller
11/18 – Stockholm, SE @ Nalen
11/19 – Gothenburg, SE @ Pustervik
11/20 – Aarhus, DK @ Voxhall
11/22 – Bristol, UK @SWX
11/23 – London, UK @ O2 Academy Brixton
11/24 – Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall
11/25 – Glasgow, UK @ QMU
11/27 – Dublin, IE @ The Academy
12/08 – Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall
12/09 – Silver Spring, MD @ The Fillmore Silver Spring
12/10 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
12/11 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall
12/14 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Spirit
12/15 – Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Theatre
12/16 – Detroit, MI @ The Crofoot
12/21 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
12/22 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
12/23 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall

SPARK is out 9/16 via Secretly Canadian.