Sinking, a four-song EP, was released in 2012, bookended by the 2011 LP Dog Rose Gall and the 2014 LP Restoring Darkness. Primarily an acoustic solo project by Folktale Records' Christopher Payne, Whitman's lyrics are pensive and somber, dragging the listener through small glimpses into moments without the context to form the full picture. At its core, Sinking is a record about love and heartbreak. There are no secrets contained here. You are alone, and it's okay to feel the way that you do.
Departure, the first track on the EP, comes out swinging, with an upbeat combination of strings backing this song's exploration into what seems to be a breakup. We are brought into the room with the narrator as their partner, leaving the narrator staring expectantly, then left unrewarded. The song ends with a lyrical gut punch, common in Payne's lyrics, "And I thought that I was strong / but honest to god / I don't know what to do now that you're gone."
While each of these four tracks holds its own weight, I Find It Hard is both the strongest track and potentially my favorite song in the Whitman catalogue. Payne's gentle tenor shines on the back of the gentle strings as he elucidates scenes of depression. This is at its most explicit in the last verse-- "I can grind my teeth and I can try to sleep through another night and make it to another day. But if I wake up tomorrow, will I still feel the same?"-- but also can be felt in the choruses, "I find it hard to believe that if I died today, I'd be missed for very long," and "I find it hard to believe that this is leading up to something." This song is devastatingly beautiful, and is a must-listen.
The third track of the EP, Golden Days returns to the signature lyrical style I described above: this piece harkens to places and moments, allowing the listener a glimpse and asking them to draw on their empathy to complete the picture. Each piece of the verses explores a core memory: an old car, a shoreline, drinking, and debauchery, while the verses reel us back to the central theme of the song, which seems to be a nostalgic urge to return to the past. This is a song to reminisce to, if you'll let yourself.
The EP's title track, Sinking, combines the themes explored in the previous three tracks to close the loop on the audience's feelings. Slow, short, and methodical, Sinking describes the pain of missing one's partner, of knowing that you'll never get to live those days again, of having to continue living despite knowing that things are not going to feel that good. In-and-out in two minutes, this song is a gorgeous standalone piece, the power of which is only magnified when listening to this album top-to-bottom.
When I first heard this album, I was a few months removed from the passing of Tiger, a cat who was, to me, more than a best friend. I would hardly say that I ever really exited the depression I had felt following his passing; I more or less matured enough that I can work alongside the feelings that developed inside of me. Sinking, in that regard, has been therapeutic. It was refreshing to be able to hear sentiments that I had been feeling echoed by another individual, especially one who was able to create something this beautiful. The cherry on top of that, obviously, was Luigi of Almost Halloween Time Records releasing a limited run of this EP with hand-designed covers featuring images of cats. For all of the reasons described above, I cannot recommend this EP strongly enough. Go check it out by clicking on the album art at the top of this review!