Broken Dreams Club Interview: Whitney’s Playland

Photo Credit: Kittie Krivacic

In 2023, Whitney’s Playland released their dazzling debut album, “Sunset Sea Breeze,” one of the best records of that year. A collection of lo-fi pop nuggets and janglepop gems, the album showcased the vibrant creative partnership of founding members George Tarlson and Inna Showalter, longtime friends and veterans of the Bay Area music scene.

After a quiet 2024, the band recently reemerged with a show at the Four Star Theater on May 30 and on Friday they’ll release a 7” EP, “Long Rehearsal,” through Meritorio Records and Dandy Boy Records. Now a solid four piece with the addition of multi-instrumentalist Paul DeMartini and drummer Evan Showalter, the band will play selections from that new album as part of a record release party on Saturday at the Edinburgh Castle, alongside local mainstays Black Thumb, Mister Baby and Rhymies.

Broken Dreams Club recently connected with Showalter and Tarlson over email to catch up with the band and get some more details on the songs behind “Long Rehearsal.”

It’s been more than two years since the release of the amazing Whitney’s Playland debut album, “Sunset Sea Breeze.” What have you two been up to since that record came out?

Whitney’s Playland (WP): Our last show was in September of 2023, and we went on hiatus for a little while after George and Rachel’s son, Leo, was born in October 2023. By early 2024, we were working on writing and recording the songs that are on the new 7”. For the rest of 2024, we worked on recording and mixing the songs. In early 2025, we started practicing again in anticipation of releasing the EP. During our hiatus, Inna’s other band Magic Fig released their debut record and wrote and recorded their second album. 

Your new EP, “Long Rehearsal,” which is out this Friday, was recorded as a four piece, correct? As opposed to “Sunset Sea Breeze,” which was written and recorded primarily as an effort between just the two of you, right?

WP: Yes, this EP was definitely more of a collaborative project. 

What was that like? How was it different to have Paul [DeMartini] and Evan [Showalter] involved in the creative process from the start?

WP: On “Sunset Sea Breeze,” a lot of the songs were brought to the project fully formed by George, while a couple were melodic and lyrical collabs between George and Inna. For the new EP, Inna wrote many of the lyrics, and Paul, Evan and Inna each contributed to the instrumentation and structure of the songs. Writing the EP was great! We really enjoy and get lost in the process of recording. Everyone has a unique ear for what’s happening in the song, and we’re all on the same page with adding our contributions in the effort to make the song as good as it can be. 

Were the songs still written and composed by you two? Or did Paul and Evan help with that as well?

George Tarlson (GT): Inna and I split the lyric writing duties. I wrote the original concepts for the music but the band finished the instrumentation together. 

Inna Showalter (IS): George had already written a lot of the music for “Long Rehearsal” and “Talk” and written all the music, vocal melodies, and lyrics for “Only Daughter.” He had shared the demo for “Long Rehearsal” with me a while earlier and I quickly came up with vocal and lyrical ideas, which George helped cement, and that little keyboard melody on the second verse, which Paul executed. We weren’t sure how to start the song, and Evan’s drum fill was a fitting addition for the intro. “Talk” was definitely the most collaborative effort. Everybody was very involved with writing and arranging that track. 

The title track is a great way to kick off the EP. It’s a piece of janglepop bliss and Inna’s voice is so clear and stirring. Particularly on this song, the production feels like it’s stepped up a bit—was there a concerted effort to “clean up” the sound for this EP?

GT: Thanks! We record all our music in our home studios, which has worked great for us so far. I love how the first record's sound was a little funky and hopefully memorable, but I'm very happy with the sound of the new record. We took our time with it to try to make sure things were how we wanted them. We used more microphones on the drums and spent more time tracking and editing than we did on the first album. 

IS: Yes, we definitely took our time with these. We recorded the main tracks all together at George’s and added overdubs and additional ideas later. Sometimes we’d get together to work on the songs, or we’d record portions at home as ideas came up and send them to each other, adding what we liked to the final project and removing what didn’t work. There was a lot of exploration and experimentation. 

I also love that the opening track is so short—a very Guided By Voices (or Tony Molina) approach there. How important was it to start the EP with a real direct, concise track?

George: I'm not really sure we thought about it that much. The band has always tried to write collections of songs with some contrast, different textures, and different lengths. “Long Rehearsal” is a shorty for sure. 

The video for that song is great. Whose idea was that story? (Also, love George’s skateboarding skills—very impressive!)

IS: I remember the day the idea was born. Kittie (Krivacic) and I were at the SF Botanical Garden talking about the new songs, which we had just finished recording. Kittie is an extremely talented filmmaker. We had always wanted to collaborate on a project together, and this seemed like a great opportunity to finally make it happen. She first came up with the idea of me singing on the vintage F train car. Later that day I shared the idea with Evan, and on the spot he came up with the plot for the video: I travel across the city with a mysterious suitcase, while the rest of the band tries to track me down. I ultimately added the bit at the end where we see ourselves playing the song inside of the suitcase. It came together in a really fun way, and of course paid homage to my favorite city. I’d grown up taking the F car and always been enamored with those beautiful, colorful old trains. It turned out exactly how I envisioned it and was a very fun creative collaboration. 

“Only Daughter” seems like a pretty funny little ditty about being an outlier in a community that’s not super open to strangers. Was that narrative based on real-life experiences? Or is Lydia a character dreamed up out of the blue?

GT: “Only Daughter” was loosely based on a real neighbor of mine who came around and made quite an impression on me for being a very loopy, funny, outgoing, old artist. It’s a portrait of her in song. Although the song sort of took on a life of its own and isn’t really about that person anymore. 

I wanted to write something with a 50’s ballad influence (I was listening to a lot of that at the time). The song is set in the backdrop of the suburbs, where the cultural norm is to be a little boring. When you run into someone who fights against that, it’s like a breath of fresh air. I grew up in the suburbs and I guess I still live there, although El Cerrito is very multicultural and just a BART ride away from the City.

And in contrast to the “Long Rehearsal,” is “Talk,” which is the longest song you all have ever recorded. The latter half of the track in particular is very exploratory and improvisational, with these interesting sonic manipulations and unique instrumental arrangements (it sounds like there is a xylophone in there?) What was it like making that song—did it feel nice to loosen the reins a little bit and push the envelope beyond the typical Whitney’s Playland structure?  

GT: “Talk” is a song that took a long time to come together. We're pretty proud of the end result though. We really tried to play with the layers of instrumentation that made up the song. Mixing it was really hard because of that!

IS: When George showed me his guitar demo for “Talk” I immediately loved it and a concept for it came to my mind right away, but when it came down to executing it, nothing seemed to stick. I came up with several versions of the vocals and lyrics but none of them ever seemed to really convey what I was trying to capture. There were multiple times when I almost gave up. Sometimes there’s those songs that “don’t want to write themselves” as my friend Muzzy once put it. Ultimately I think the frustration and delay played into the theme of the song itself, which is quite fitting. Paul came over and we sat at the keyboard together trying to workshop parts. The whole time I was hearing these extra little melodies in my head overlapping with the original movements of the song and I ended up recording those on the glockenspiel. Evan added shakers and tambourine. We kept layering additional instrumentation to fill out the parts that needed something extra. When Paul added what we now lovingly refer to as the “Chris Isaak” guitars after the bridge, the song felt complete. I think all the experimentation and trial and error allowed us to grow as a band in a way that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. And of course it was extremely satisfying when it was finally finished. 

The lyrics on “Talk” seem to detail the futility of the spoken word—how what we say will never quite match what we feel. Am I reading that correctly? And if so, how do you all grapple with that disconnect as songwriters—creative people whose work is predicated in large part by an effort to connect with others?

IS: Yes, exactly. This song is about how words can never fully express what one is feeling or experiencing. It’s definitely a concept I grapple with as a songwriter. I’m a very private person. My voice and my lyrics are what really reveal who I am, and I’m constantly plagued with thoughts of “what if this gets taken the wrong way?” This is in essence what the song is about - our interpersonal relationships and the fundamental misunderstandings that occur between us and even those closest to us, due to the nature of being human. We are all in our own subjective realities and have only our words to convey our experience to others, which is inherently flawed and lacking. Still, we can’t help but try.

Do you all have any plans to release a full-length album, now that you have put out this EP?

GT: Right now, we're just going to play some fun shows this Summer. You haven't heard the last of Whitney's Playland though.

I just saw you play at the 4 Star Theater, which was your first performance in a few years. What was that experience like, being back onstage after such an extended absence?

GT: It felt great to be back together again! Good turnout, good bands, good venue. You gotta love it. 

IS: 4 Star is such a special venue. It’s an honor to be able to perform at this beautiful magical theatre that’s seen so much history in this city of ours. It’s quite different from performing in other venues in that the audience is sitting down, everyone is quiet, and you can’t make out anyone’s faces except those in the front row. It does make me more nervous than performing at a bar for example, that has more of a laid-back vibe, but I do really enjoy the feeling of theatrical reverence that I get from being on that stage. I was thrilled to open for Hectorine at their record release; I’ve always really admired Sarah and loved sharing the stage with her and her lovely talented bandmates. I also really enjoyed David’s fantastic performance as Plastic Candles. The projections were spot on for all three acts, and I am always so grateful for the hospitality of Syd and the rest of the 4 Star crew.  

You’re playing a record release party at the Edinburgh Castle with a stacked lineup of other local acts on June 21. Any other shows planned in the near future?

IS: Edinburgh Castle is one of my favorite venues and brings back a lot of fond memories from my younger years. Zack & Nick have been putting on some great shows there lately and we were lucky enough to play their first one back in 2023. We’re very excited to be back again, with friends Rhymies, Black Thumb, and Mister Baby!

GT: We have a few shows booked through the summer. We're playing August 2 at the Little Hill Lounge in El Cerrito with Ryli and Tony Jay. August 23, were playing with Aluminum and Welcome Strawberry at the 4 Star Theater. 

Any other projects you all are working on at the moment? Inna—you’ve been busy with Magic Fig—any new announcement regarding that band?

IS: There’s some figgy magic in the works - stay tuned! ;)

Show Details:

Whitney’s Playland with Black Thumb, Mister Baby and Rhymies
Where: The Edinburgh Castle
When: 8 p.m., Saturday, June 21
 Tickets: $10, available at the door