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Songs spend a lot of time not being songs. They’re a bit of melody. They’re a few chords that sound good strung together. They’re a line or two with no other lyrics to tell a complete story.
That’s how they remain until … something. A catalyst. For Travis Whitty, it was two dads: his own and himself.
Looking at things through a fatherly frame helped bring “Heal Harms” — the single from Whitty Remarks that we’re pleased to help premiere today — into the world. Prior to that, Travis had elements of a song kicking around for more than a decade. Then one afternoon, having lost his dad about a year prior and recently becoming a dad for the first time, it suddenly all came together.
“[I] was very much reeling about my own paternal role,” he shared with us. “It’s no stretch to say the final line, ‘Let it all move you; the only way out is through’ became this sort of grief/momentum mantra. … My hope is that the sentiment serves as a calming agent or motivator for others.”
While the band officially attached to “Heal Harms” is led by Travis and Ashlee Whitty, the song’s final form wouldn’t have been possible without a raft of musicians: Peter Vartanian and Ian Olvera (vocals), Christopher Porterfield (pedal steel and vocals), Todd Umhoefer (electronic clarinet, Barry Paul Clark (bass and vocals) and Luke Bassuener (drums/percussion).
What they created is a salve for all parents — and maybe all people — in song form. It’s a zippy track that comes in under three minutes but feels built for those moments when you’re about to explode out of your skin or collapse under life’s responsibilities. It’s a deep, cleansing breath built on pedal steel and gentle snare and layered vocals:
So heal your harms in a realm of repair
It’s a means to an end that was always there
Let it all move you
The only way out is through
“Heal Harms” is part of a bigger project Travis Whitty put together as a way to process the grief stemming from his father’s death. Whitty Remarks will deliver Nary A Care on April 25 and play a release show that night at Cactus Club with So Zuppy and Melodia. In the meantime, you can listen to “Heal Harms” using the player at the top of the page and on 88Nine throughout today (6:30 and 10:30 a.m.; 2:30, 6:30 and 9:30 p.m.).
