Whitehorse (band)

Whitehorse
Melissa McClelland and Luke Doucet
Background information
Origin	Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Genres	folk rock
Years active	2011 (2011)–present
Labels	Six Shooter
Website	whitehorsemusic.ca
Members	Luke Doucet Melissa McClelland

Whitehorse is a Canadian folk rock band composed of husband-and-wife duo Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland. Based in Hamilton, Ontario, Doucet and McClelland were both established singer-songwriters before opting to put their solo careers on hold to work together as Whitehorse.

Doucet and McClelland toured in each other’s bands for years before forming Whitehorse in 2010. They have since released three albums and two EPs on Six Shooter Records.

In July 2013, their second album The Fate of the World Depends on This Kiss was shortlisted for the 2013 Polaris Music Prize. That year, they also played their first show at Massey Hall, one of Canada's most storied music venues; to mark the occasion, they released The Road to Massey Hall, an EP comprising cover versions of songs written and performed by other artists who had previously performed there.

In 2014, they released Éphémère sans repère, an EP of French language versions of several of their songs. Lyric translations for the EP were provided by Pierre Marchand.

Their third full-length album, Leave No Bridge Unburned, was released on February 17, 2015 and won the Juno Award for Adult Alternative Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2016.

Whitehorse performs live as a duo. While both Doucet and McClelland play guitar as their primary instruments as singer-songwriters, as Whitehorse each performs on a number of instruments.

The band makes extensive use of live looping; most commonly by opening many songs by creating layered drum and percussion loops to serve as a drum track. They also loop instrumental portions and vocal phrases in some songs.