A fresh and cozy album.

A soulful piano opens the song “Silent Exchange,” with vocals reminiscent of Thundercat. The bass joins in, soon followed by a quiet humming synth and strings that build up the sound. Following is a bit of precision, an acoustic guitar and trumpets providing a heavenly dissonance as they play with the melody. Then it ends with the solo piano again. This is the opening sound of Whitney’s album Small Talk.

Get a swaying strut on and nod your head to the staccato guitar that steals the rhythm in the second song, “Won’t You Speak Your Mind.” The vocals are great with a catchy chorus that is bound to sit in your ear. The lyrics aren’t Shakespeare, and are about as creative as The Beatles’ “I Want To Hold Your Hand.” But that fact doesn’t take any charm away. They also know when to back off and let the instruments breathe. There are plenty of great guitar, keyboard and bass fills that round off the song and during the bridge, the guitar gets to fully take the spotlight for a bit. The song does not end on the home note, keeping you hooked for the next song.

“The Thread” has no chorus as the lyrics are written like a poem. There are 6 stanzas, each sung in pairs creating three parts to the song. In part one, the syllables follow a 5, 4, 5, 4 pattern for both stanzas. Then for stanzas three through five, the syllable pattern changes. In order they go 4, 4, 5, 5, then 3, 3, 4, 4, then 4, 4, 5, 4. The last stanza (6) returns to the 5, 4, 5, 4 pattern from the beginning, bringing it all back together. The words tell of being led on by someone, then becoming jealous after hearing the news that they have moved on. It’s easy to resonate with if you’ve ever had a similar experience.

The album ends with the previously released single “Darling.” It’s a good closer, however the dark horse is the song right before, the album’s namesake, “Small Talk.” It has arguably the best drumbeat in the album, a fantastic trumpet solo and a soothing sax.

Being only 36 minutes long, with eleven songs averaging a little over three minutes each, the album uses every second to its fullest. The orchestral sound, with some hints of jazz and coated in an acoustic glaze, gives a fresh but cozy feel that anyone can enjoy. The balancing is done well, and while the music is in stereo it sounds fine with both headphones and speakers. Each song is different from the next and has something new to offer, but they all flow together in unison.