LELAND WHITTY – “ANYHOW” (Released 9th December 2022)

Leland Whitty (Badbadnotgood) releases his current solo project, which is a departure from the improvisation-focused collaborative band that has made his name. ‘Anyhow’ began in 2020 after Whitty had finished working on several film score projects including Disappearance at Clifton Hill (Albert Shin) and Learn to Swim (Thyrone Tommy). That focus on narrative fed into his own work, which combined elements of cinematic composition with jazz and rock like he has created in the past. His latest album ‘Anyhow’ features Whitty on guitar, synthesizer, woodwinds, production, composition and strings.

Narrative is built into each of Whitty’s tracks in some way. Rather than a specific story, he drew from photographic or cinematic sources. The aim was for the production and arrangement to imply the kind of structural narrative found in jazz improvisation. Whitty’s compositions emerged from voice notes and short loops, for example guitar riffs that he would feed into Ableton and flesh out into larger arrangements. The layered result is very much a studio- based experience, creating a very particular sense of intimacy as a result. The track titles also have a focus on intimacy and emotion – Svalbard referencing ideas of physical isolation, for example. The album title, Anyhow, references Whitty’s do-it-yourself approach to composition, production and multi- instrument performance. The album is a look inward, expressing something personal – a reflection of the experience of music itself.