Big Thief - U.F.O.F. (May 3, 2019)

oh wow, i'd heard rumours of an adrianne solo album coming later this year but a new album from them already is even more exciting - hard to think what could be more exciting this year

here's the press release from a retailer that put up a listing early:

“30 miles west of El Paso, surrounded by 3,000 acres of pecan orchards and only a stone’s throw from the Mexican border, the band Big Thief (a.k.a. Adrianne Lenker, Buck Meek, Max Oleartchik, and James Krivchenia) set up their instruments as close together as possible to capture their most important collection of songs yet. The band had only just finished work on their 3rd album, U.F.O.F. – “the celestial twin” – days before in a cabin studio in the woods of Washington State. Now it was time to birth U.F.O.F.’s sister album – “the earth twin” – Two Hands.

In sharp contrast to the wet environment of the U.F.O.F. session, the southwestern Sonic Ranch studio was chosen for its vast desert location. The 105-degree weather boiled away any clinging memories of the green trees and wet air of the last session. Two Hands had to be completely different— an album about the Earth and the bones beneath it. The songs were recorded live with almost no overdubs. All but two songs feature entirely live vocal takes, leaving Adrianne’s voice suspended above the mix in dry air, raw and vulnerable as ever. Where U.F.O.F. layered mysterious sounds and effects for levitation, Two Hands grounds itself on dried-out, cracked desert dirt.

With raw power and intimacy, Two Hands folds itself gracefully into Big Thief’s impressive discography. This body of work grows deeper and more inspiring with each new album. While you listen, let your own two hands rest in front of your body with palms facing inward and see what power grows between them.”

also the tracklist (featuring "not"!):

Rock And Sing
Forgotten Eyes
The Toy
Two Hands
Those Girls
Shoulders
Not
Wolf
Replaced
Cut My Hair

and release date is 11 october

you need to adapt your username

I'm excite, hope it's as good as U.F.O.F., which is quickly becoming one of my favorites of the year.

ahhhhhh i'm so happy! i love this band

looks like an edit of "not" is the first single and out tomorrow possibly

https://music.apple.com/au/album/not-edit-single/1473937677

it's on apple music already but nowhere else

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIcVwH47uxQ

love this, lenker's delivery of 'not the hunger revealing' especially

wow

Damn I guess I have a new favorite Big Thief song. That's amazing.

a really nice detail in this is the chime-like sounds (not sure if they're guitar or keys or some percussion) in the right channel for a lot of it

Beautiful.

wow they really are the best band in the world

New one apparently produced by same dude as Capacity (UFOF was a different producer).

UFOF I think was Luke Temple, this one is a guy named Andrew Sarlo

Hmm, er, wait, he is listed on UFOF too so IDK.

not sure why I thought it was Luke Temple

I needed this song right now

love it so much

If you’re in the UK... They just announced a little gig in London next Monday and will be playing songs off the new album. If you register now you might be able to get tickets when they’re released on Thursday.

wow this is great

musically it reminds me of Silkworm which is like the last thing I thought I would be typing

definitely a different feel than the last one

goddamn whoever took that solo went IN

what are you all on about? i'd say a frightening consensus is building up there. i only listened to the first three minutes of that song and found them not good enough to continue to listen to the next 3 minutes. repetitive, tuneless, without interesting drumming or beats and her voice is a little annoying anyways. is the 2nd half of the song much different from the first?

lol

never change, alex, your dislike is a reliable indicator that it's gonna be something I love

can you put in words what you like about it?

sorry didn't read your post carefully. so do you like it? and if yes what do you like?

I haven't listened yet, but based on what I've heard from the most recent album they have a superb sense of defined space within their sound, nothing is wasted. And of course they are catchy as hell. I love how so much of their stuff smolders with restraint and only occasionally cuts loose.

xp btw i am not sure if i wrote it before but i always had the impression that our tastes overlap quite a lot, sleeve.

they do! that's why I'm fascinated by how much we still disagree on

i discovered them via their last album and really loved the first five or six songs which indeed where catchy and restrained and captivating. they build up an eerie atmosphere, which i love. the second half of the album got a bit boring and was more of the same with less focus. this new song does strictly nothing for me.

ha, see I really like the last half of U.F.O.F! especially "Century".

is the 2nd half of the song much different from the first?

― je est un autre, l'enfer c'est les autres (alex in mainhattan), Tuesday, August 13, 2019 2:44 PM (twenty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

...

reliable indicator your thoughts are worth expressing about a song: you listened to half of it

if u like sick ass guitar shit yeah

if you’re not willing to put the least amount of work in as a listener then i don’t think this band is for you anyway

xp. century is the last excellent song. i could do withour the last four songs. i just realise that the singer's voice reminds me a little of stina nordenstam. which i prefer a lot though.

anyone with any reasons why that last song is supposed to be good?

idk did you listen to the whole thing yet

what are you all on about? i'd say a frightening consensus is building up there. i only listened to the first three minutes of that song and found them not good enough to continue to listen to the next 3 minutes. repetitive, tuneless, without interesting drumming or beats and her voice is a little annoying anyways. is the 2nd half of the song much different from the first?

― je est un autre, l'enfer c'est les autres (alex in mainhattan), Tuesday, August 13, 2019 11:44 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

#BigThiefSquad: Abort, retreat! Alex is onto us pretending to like Big Thief just cause we're screwing with his head! Truman Show at 11!

I mean Alex, your dislike feels genuine, but "repetitive, tuneless, without innersting x" yeah ok, I mean, sure you can say that about Big Thief, but it doesn't seem like you actually listened to their latest record, or this new song (as you just admitted). Nor that you are willing to even listen to one (1) whole song.

Why shit on a song a lot of people think is great when you've not even listened to it proper?! Idgi

ok the guitar action in the 2nd half is quite interesting. another plus she stops singing. but still altogether this song is not for me. i think it doesn't really hold together. as i said i liked ufof and wrote about it on this thread but this new song is a different beast.

I like this a lot. A three-minute psych-rock guitar solo is p much what their music was always missing for me.

being into UFOF but not "Not" is pretty understandable since there's a deliberate stylistic shift (though it's not completely left-field or anything - "Jenni" and "Contact" are more in line with "Not" than most of the album). i think "Not" is quite catchy, i like Adrienne's vocals a lot, the way it maintains a steady groove while still constantly shifting with the background guitar and other ambience etc., the fantastic solo that takes up the entire second half - i don't understand your complaints at all. i'm also confused by your dismissal of the second half of UFOF - "Strange" is the best song on it and "Jenni" and "Terminal Paradise" are especially fantastic too

what isn't reasonable is getting all confused why everyone likes it without even listening to the whole thing lol

I thought UFOF was a big grower anyway. Capacity was very immediate, but ultimately I've learnt not to judge a BT song from the first listen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5VVK5OMMGg

one of the songs from the unlabelled single that went out recently is the title track from the new album and it's wonderful (the other is "love in mine", the japanese bonus track from UFOF)

Haven't really given them a proper chance yet, despite enjoying an odd track here and there, but this new song is incredible. Ordering U.F.O.F. as we speak and already excited for the upcoming one.

I like this a lot. A three-minute psych-rock guitar solo is p much what their music was always missing for me.

If only all of their songs were like that.

i could go on and on about any song but "strange" has that gorgeous sunlit coda

― american bradass (BradNelson), Tuesday, May 7, 2019 9:43 PM (three months ago)

This is currently my favorite part of U.F.O.F. Pure bliss

I like Cattails and love U.F.O.F. -- one of those songs you just play on repeat all morning and then it's in your head all day.

Oddly, turns out playing Cattails ten times a day also does that

"meteor shower at the motel" is such a good encapsulation