'' Panther in the Dollhouse ''is the fourth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

Whitehorse Whitehorse () is the capital of Yukon, and the largest city in Northern Canada. It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1426 (Historic Mile 918) on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's downtown and Riverdale areas ...

. The album was released via

Six Shooter Records Six Shooter Records is an independent record label based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that uses an artist-centric business model, focusing on art before commerce combined with extensive touring. Six Shooter Records was founded in 2000 by Shauna T ...

on July 7, 2017.

Writing and production

is a Canadian band consisting of husband-and-wife musicians and songwriters

Luke Doucet Luke Doucet (born June 9, 1973) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist. He has written and performed as a solo artist and as a member of the indie rock band Veal and the folk rock band Whitehorse. In 2006 and 2011, Doucet was nominated fo ...

and

Melissa McClelland Melissa McClelland (born 18 May 1979) is an American-born Canadian singer-songwriter who lived in Hamilton, Ontario, in her youth and now bases her career from Toronto, Ontario. McClelland's music is influenced by blues and Americana (music), A ...

. For ''Panther in the Dollhouse'', they followed their usual writing pattern: each of them wrote songs individually. In an interview with ''Vue Weekly'', McClelland says "We will each have a batch of songs and the ones we both gravitate to we claim are Whitehorse songs". The track "Nighthawks" was written in response to Canada's Bill C-36, a law that modified the Canadian Criminal Code with respect to offenses related to prostitution. Several other songs on the album, including "Trophy Wife" and "Boys Like You", also relate to sexual politics. This theme was carried into the album launch show, which included a taping of

Dan Savage Daniel Keenan Savage (born October 7, 1964) is an American author, media pundit, journalist, and LGBTQ community activist. He writes Savage Love, an internationally syndicated relationship and sex advice column. In 2010, Savage and his husband, ...

's '' Savage Love podcast'', and featured sex worker advocate Terri-Jean Bedford participating in a panel discussion. Financial support for the recording came from

FACTOR Factor (Latin, ) may refer to: Commerce * Factor (agent), a person who acts for, notably a mercantile and colonial agent * Factor (Scotland), a person or firm managing a Scottish estate * Factors of production, such a factor is a resource used ...

and the

Ontario Media Development Corporation Ontario is the southernmost province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it is home to 38.5% of the country's population, and is the second-largest province by ...

Reception

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the album holds a score of 78/100 based on 4 reviews, indicating "generally favourable reviews". Kyle Mullin, writing for ''Exclaim!'', called ''Panther in the Dollhouse'' "one of the best albums of the summer, if not the year", and identified "Boys Like You" as one of the best songs on the album. Hal Horowitz, reviewing the album for ''American Songwriter,'' described Whitehorse's genre as "impossible to pigeonhole" and praised the album's production; Horowitz considered "Nighthawks" to be a highlight of the album. Chrissie Dickinson, wrote in the

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

that the first single ("Boys Like You") is a "rhythm-heavy and shivery rock-pop song", and the accompanying video is "sleek and cinematic sendup of rock & roll stardom". Steve Horowitz rated the album 7/10, and said "the music has a strong, charismatic appeal" in his review for ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...

.'' James Fenney, writing in Never Enough Notes, said that Whitehorse "swapped Americana for slick noir rock" for this album, and that "Whitehorse’s successes outweigh the problematic moments on ''Panther in the Dollhouse''", rating the album 3/5.

Track listing

# Epitaph in Tongues # Boys Like You # Die Alone # Trophy Wife # Pink Kimono # Kicking Down Your Door # Gracie # I Can't Take You With Me (Charlene's Theme) # Nighthawks # Manitoba Death Star

Credits

Credits are taken from the album liner notes. All songs were written by Melissa McClelland and Luke Doucet, with the addition of Gus Van Go on ''Pink Kimono'', and the addition of Gus Van Go, Werner F, Chris Soper and Jesse Singer on ''Nighthawks''. Production was by Gus Van Go and Werner F, with addition production by Likeminds. Melissa McClelland and Luke Doucet: Vocals, guitars, percussion Gus Van Go: Bass, percussion Werner F: Additional guitars Jesse Singer: Drums, drum programming, bass, synthesizers, percussion Chris Soper: Drum programming, B3 organ, electric piano, piano, synthesizers.

References

{{Authority control 2017 albums Whitehorse (band) albums Six Shooter Records albums