Four weeks ago I wrote how Bon Iver was retroactively assigning seasons to each of their LPs. Whitney just might be doing that organically. Describing their debut, three years ago my take was, "Summertime music...some very 70s sounds to this one, and I can imagine having a lazy Sunday afternoon barbecue with this as the soundtrack." The sentiment regarding the decade of the Chicago group’s initial offering still holds true on their 2019 follow-up, but Forever Turned Around takes on a more solemn tone than its already subdued predecessor. There's not much "summer" about it. 

While many bands' sophomore releases try to branch out or mix things up from their initial success, Whitney doubles down. They managed to make an album that's somehow more chill and better written than Light Upon the Lake. The unhurried, calming quality to Forever Turned Around makes it an easy record to overlook if not given proper attention. It also gets better with every listen. The band's growth is evident, but it's in the details not the foreground. Some would say they're playing it safe; others to their strengths. I'd say they just dropped the best acoustic mellow-out record of the year.