Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You

then what happened?

Their persona as a band feels very late '60s in the way a lot of bands seemed like goofy weirdos at the time. Thinking of the San Francisco scene in particular.

You know, Jefferson Airplane is a really good touchstone for this band... even down to the distinctiveness of each album and even song in their catalogue; the prominence of the "rhythm section" as full band members; the weightiness of their concerns (which involve themes of nature & technology – though approached differently); and, indeed, something about the personalities / "presence" / styles of the folks involved. Some differences are that JA had a few different songwriters in the band (as opposed to mainly Adrianne), a non-guiter-playing singer, etc.

(JA had several different singers too, obv)

Wow, I have also never knowingly heard this band, and this is fantastic.

km - wasn’t sure if there was a slight tinge of facetiousness in your lauding Spud Infinity upthread, but now that I’m hearing it I don’t think so! Awesome song!

Song that caught me on the most recent listen was "Blurred View," which drifts through red-zone fuzz and rattling railroad percussion in a way that feels yearning and a little sinister.

Also, I loved Lenker's acoustic demo of "Simulation Swarm" last year, it's fun to compare it to the album version — you can hear what happens when it goes through the band filter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRReuyuyk9I

i absolutely love the solo in "simulation swarm," incredible to see her reproduce it on acoustic

She is among other things a terrific guitarist.

Love what max came up with on bass for that one.

12,000 Lines is a perfect little song

Yeah that bass part is gorgeous, the way it dances around the vocal line.

the whole band has fantastic chops but oleartchik is just phenomenal

Listening to this for the 3rd go-round & for the first time on headphones. Really digging it. It feels so artful but also uncalculated - natural, I guess, almost completely unpretentious while still reaching in a lot of different directions & not shying away from philosophy or sonic difficulty. What a gem.

Jaysus, they have over 2 million listeners on Spotify! When did that happen?

Over 1.5 million were me :-o

2,000 Lines is a perfect little song

― Heez, Tuesday, February 15, 2022 1

Indeed.

I've had a different part of this rattling around in my head every day since it came out. Today:

I believe in YouUuuuUU (feat. ghostly harmonising)

from the title track.

I'm still working on the "new" tracks but overall it's such a great album.
I don't think there's a single song I dislike so far which is rare for a double album, even the greatest ones !
Especially since I loved Adrianne's album Songs but somehow never really liked her output within the band format.
Right now I love "Blue Lightning".

after five tracks of this......this is the standard for modern country. accept nothing less

i came here wary of the hype, but i do now understand it, something has been accomplished here

i even like 'little things' now

Drinking a beeEEEeeEEeeer

12,000 Lines enhanced by the birdsong in the park I'm walking through

okay, some rough thoughts, insofar as anyone needs to know what I think

- this is obviously very, very good

- yes, the chords are fairly simple, classic country chords, with the odd wrinkle, and it is an album that looks back quite a lot, and fits within an established lineage of American Music. we don't have, as we do with say Weyes Blood, medieval interpolations, weird synth textures, progged-out drama

- but what we do have is a grand play with band dynamics, with the textures of the classic Americana instruments - the layers are kept intricate, and yet a space is retained in the mix; it has the wobbly, woozy, diaphanous quality of the best music of this sort. the chords therefore become a chassis for what's really going on here: little details, little things, guitars played (or recorded) strangely, delightful vocal harmony work, songs that develop subtly and intensify or quietly pull the rug

- it stays thoroughly engaging the whole way through, and uses its length to become something more ragged, inscrutable and dare I say literary than if it'd been, say, the first ten tracks + Simulation Swarm

- lenker's lyrics and vibe don't annoy me; she's endearing and I buy how she stretches for the cosmic, again in a more goofy, ragged way than her competition for American Songwriter Of The Moment. that is still an unfair framing though; maybe it'd be better to say that her lyrics and vibe are excellent, even if the main attraction here is how it all comes together

- my favourite bit is probably still the Drum Machine Bit, because I can't help being me, lol

on second listen though, the descending chord sequence that emerges out of the stellar debris of the title-track is challenging it

I think someone said something about “love love love” and the Band upthread and it does have a rugged intensity and SOUND that reminds me of some tracks from the Basement Tapes.

Is there a breakdown anywhere of which tracks are from which sessions? Would be interesting to compare the vibes of the different recording dates and locations.

Demo recorded at The Elf Inn
"Promise is a Pendulum"

Flying Cloud Studios, NY with Sam Evian
"Certainty"
"Sparrow"
"Heavy Bend"
"12,000 Lines"

Five Star Studios, Topanga Canyon, CA with Shawn Everett
"Time Escaping"
"Little Things"
"Blurred View"
"Simulation Swarm"

Studio In The Clouds, CO with Dom Monks
"Change"
"Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You"
"Flower of Blood"
"No Reason"
"Love Love Love"
"The Only Place"

Press On Studio, Tucson, AZ with Scott McMicken
"Spud Infinity"
"Red Moon"
"Dried Roses"
"Wake Me Up to Drive"
"Blue Lightning"

here you go (source is the liner notes)

Studio in the Clouds is where Neil and Crazy Horse did Barn and Colorado

still can't hear this as anything but Tusk 2

don't hear the wilco comparisons at all

I don't think it sounds like Wilco at all, I think "Being There" was just brought up as another shambling double album example.

I often use my guitar teacher as a sounding board, because he's about 10 years older than me and doesn't know much if anything about contemporary music but is open to pretty much anything. He loves the Band and knows his instrument, so I wonder what he'll make of this.

i also don’t think this sounds like tusk (maybe occasionally)

the only downside of this album is that it is in a style that inevitably gets people talking about American rock history rather a lot

I think one of the things that makes this record so impressive is that it's in strong communication with American rock history, but is still very much Its Own Thing. Very hard to do. It's fun to pick out the potential reference points, but think about how they do it a bit differently.

Yeah I don't think it sounds like any of those other Big Albums, I think the references are more about spirit and vibe.

And thanks for that song list, those groupings really make sense. But I'm glad they jumbled them together in the track listing. (Currently I'd say Topanga Canyon is my jam, but this is the kind of album where that preference will shift over time.)

Yeah thanks for that, gonna break it down in playlists just for fun. Just adding to the praise - I've been enjoying this album so much over the last week.

good "rough thoughts" post, imago

ty it feels good to like something you all like too lol

triggercut otm

https://i.postimg.cc/7hKSZ1nw/spudamerica-1.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/7hKSZ1nw/spudamerica-1.jpg

This morning I reached the point in listening to this where I can shut off my analytical brain, stop trying to anticipate how it flows or guess what's influencing what. Just letting it play and enjoying it for what it is.

those tucson sessions seem like they were fun

Looked to me from that video posted above like Simulation Swarm is in an alternate tuning, so dug around and see she commonly uses them, which is another nice little tweak that gives her/their songs a distinct sound

Good tutorial on "symbol" for those who are interested. Haven't seen this picking pattern before, either.

youtube.com/watch?v=VmjD8CrMIX0

Ah found a video where she talks about alternate tunings--

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bAugdYu8LQ

A lot of acoustic finger pickers use or need to use alternate tunings to get the drone strings going or to just let open strings resonate.

actually 'little things' sounds more like tango in the night though FM would have given it a big chorus

i'm making this up, but this morning, at least, i believe the best way to listen to music is to listen to the music and not think about where it came from or what tradition it might belong to