Whitney : "Golden Days" (via SoundCloud)

It can’t be exaggerated enough: Chicago gets hideously, fantastically cold in the winter. Cars freeze shut; the lake ices over. Each step against the wind feels like knives digging into your skin. The ground warps into an interminable mix of slush and salt, ruining any and all clothing from the knee down. Days go by where all you feel like doing is sitting close to a radiator and letting your mind wander.

Which is basically the situation guitarist Max Kakacek and drummer Julien Ehrlich found themselves in when they recorded their first songs as Whitney. They were living together during Chicago’s infamous Polar Vortex of 2014, a winter when temperatures plunged below zero on 26 separate days—an all-time record. They had nowhere else to go. The duo came up with their first song in just 10 minutes and continued to bounce ideas off each other as the brutal season finally began to thaw. “We were dreaming of more beautiful places and feeling hopeful,” remembers Ehrlich. “Like: Summer’s gonna come around, let’s put our heads down and get this work done. We’ll feel better soon.”

The realization came as their other musical projects were dissolving, leaving both musicians with questions about what to do next. Kakacek was a founding member of the precocious guitar pop outfit Smith Westerns, which was on the brink of breaking up through much of 2014 before officially calling it quits at the end of the year. The period of limbo left Kakacek and Ehrlich—who had also played with Smith Westerns as well as Unknown Mortal Orchestra—with plenty of time on their hands. They had undertaken new projects during the interregnum, but nothing felt as vital as what they were accomplishing together.