How do you sum up the life of someone who’s passed? Do you pay tribute to the big swings—the accomplishments, the relationships, the major life events—or do you remember the smaller moments? Acts of offhand kindness. Unspoken support. An everyday voicemail.
“It’s just me. Love ya. Bye.”
That’s the voicemail that concludes “Apparition Premonition,” the opening track of Whitty Remarks‘ new Nary A Care LP. Whitty Remarks is Milwaukee musician Travis Whitty, joined by wife Ashlee and a host of local stars. The voicemail is from Travis’ father, Patrick, who passed away in 2020. Nary A Care finds Travis grappling with his father’s death, celebrating his father’s life, and navigating the rocky road in between.
“Music was the binding agent that kept us in touch all the way up until Dad’s abrupt and early end,” Travis writes in the album’s liner notes. “In fact, my first band’s practice was in his dining room. Five doe-y eyed high schoolers fumbled through ‘American Jesus’ by Bad Religion about fifteen times and called it a night. From that tiny, repurposed communal room, a desire to write original music commenced. Making sound became an extension of my kinetic career path. Twenty-something years later, here we are.
“Though presence wasn’t historically his main attribute,” Travis continues, “Dad was almost always at our shows, an avid supporter of my artistic life. Small gestures were his forte.”
So how do you sum up a record like Nary A Care—a record so personal and so emotional that it transcends typical “criticism.” You can talk about the big swings—it’s a nine-track album of gorgeously rendered, 2010s-esque indie-folk—but maybe it’s best to focus on the smaller moments:
The tasteful drum machine and cosmic pedal steel of the title track. The melancholy-but-hopeful shuffle of “Heal Harms.” The glitchy interlude of “Burden Of Being A Clone.” The live-room feel (maybe a dining room?) of instrumental “Scant Information In A Snitching Phase.” The unexpected crunch of closer “Trails End.” “Maybe someday these Pavement songs could become AM radio gold,” Travis sings on the latter. “And our grandkids will say, ‘Gramps, what is this?’ / And we’ll just laugh and turn our heads away.”
Small gestures, all of them. They add up to something bigger, but that “something” (or, in this case, “someone”) is still impossible to sum up.
Whitty Remarks will celebrate the release of Nary A Care Friday, April 25 at Cactus Club. So Zuppy and Melodia will play in support.
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