Big Thief - Two Hands

“Adrianne has that disorienting quality all real-deal types have, where she comes at her songs so sideways that it subverts the form,” Jeff Tweedy, the front man for Wilco, told me. “Sometimes you would swear it’s a mistake or misunderstanding of her own song—‘Why’d she start singing there?’—but it’s not, it’s a precise angle that only she seems to possess.”

Great quote / observation

By coincidence, playing the KEXP version of "Masterpiece" and enjoying the messiness (and their obvious joy in that).

I see this thread and I think it's about Big Chief and I get excited for a second.

I'll show myself out now.

“Adrianne has that disorienting quality all real-deal types have, where she comes at her songs so sideways that it subverts the form,” Jeff Tweedy, the front man for Wilco, told me. “Sometimes you would swear it’s a mistake or misunderstanding of her own song—‘Why’d she start singing there?’—but it’s not, it’s a precise angle that only she seems to possess.”

Great quote / observation

― Guitar Dick (morrisp), Monday, October 12, 2020 3:56 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

more evidence for my chief keef parallel lol

big chief keef

https://open.spotify.com/album/25llO5FF2feSQx4Fxyd20O

instrumentals is out now

Coming up as a placeholder for me

yeah I can't get it yet -- US vs other countries thing?

liked but did not love the two recent songs

i'm in australia so maybe it'll be available at midnight for you? it's a day early here

"music for indigo" is basically exactly what i'd expected in that it's some very pretty noodling around. also has some nice ambience from a storm in the background

songs has some of the prettiest acoustic guitar sounds i've ever heard. the songs themselves are wonderful too of course

"music for indigo" is basically exactly what i'd expected in that it's some very pretty noodling around. also has some nice ambience from a storm in the background

― ufo, Wednesday, October 21, 2020 8:16 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

It's extremely stoned

As far as Adrianne's solo albums go, "songs" is grabbing me more than her past albums.

looking forward to giving songs a full concentrated listen. So far I CANNOT get through instrumentals. Maybe on a long solo drive at night or something.

Yeah, "Instrumentals" was less engaging than I expected it to be (on one background listen). The "Songs" sounded great, though....

"Songs" is good, I dig it. The degree to which it does not sound like a Big Thief album is also an affirmation of how much of band they are.

Haven't listened to Songs and I'm not a big Thief fan, but Instrumentals has been great as ambient music. I really like the first long piece.

Instrumentals is very Windham Hill/ECM and for me that's a very good thing. late night with rain on the roof candle music.

Yeah, I've just gotten around to Instrumentals and it's very nice.

Songs is nice, but hasn't really grabbed me yet. I'm sure it'll grow. It sounds busier than I was expecting - double tracked vocals and maracas etc.

Maybe not maracas. Some sort of shaker.

FYI - "the only instruments used were the acoustic guitar, a paint brush, the needles of a white pine tree, and my voice."

Ha! Must be the paint brush. It's used for percussion on the first few songs.

Zombie Girl shares a 5-7 note sequence with Mr Tambourine Man, which catches me each time.

Yes! I noticed that too.

I've had Songs on repeat for days, it's really nice. And Instrumentals is indeed great background music for writing/working.

xp yes, noticed that. beautiful record.

i'm not really into stripped-bare acoustic songs which is why I've not really checked out much of Lenker's solo stuff. Should I?

Hours Were the Birds is fantastic.

I'm pretty much in the same boat as dog latin, but all the positive reviews have me curious, even though I'm still afraid a stripped-back Lenker solo album removes exactly the things I've loved the most about the two most recent Big Thief records.

I don't think the sound/feel of Songs is drastically different from U.F.O.F. (it's closer than Abysskiss was, even though that record had a few songs that actually appeared on U.F.O.F.).

It doesn't feel totally stripped bare.

I don’t think I’m as into her solo stuff as I am big thief. Not sure why it shifted off of my personal Pinterest board here, it’s not like it’s bad, but I’m not as much into the cult of lenker for whatever reason

I had trouble staying with Songs first listen as well, it's just a little too precious and meek for me, whereas I guess the full band balances that out somewhat and brings out her more aggressive side. I loved her live solo but I haven't heard recordings that quite capture the magic it had. The early solo stuff is cool and I like some of the songs on Abysskiss.

particularly like these songs from A Sides:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-5dBOuXdrA&list=PLb94Zw9KCu-cx-P7usTVAdQgxqa3uHKp3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAMmf4NhA5o&list=PLb94Zw9KCu-cx-P7usTVAdQgxqa3uHKp3&index=3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIC-9bUU3uA&list=PLb94Zw9KCu-cx-P7usTVAdQgxqa3uHKp3&index=5

Not sure those links posted, but Indiana, Kerina, and Jonathan

precious and meek

I think this was the original name of Adrianne & Buck's performing duo ;)

haw

fwiw - I don't think there's anything particularly unusual or mysterious to be into a band but not so into the lead singer/songwriter's solo stuff (especially if it's acoustic). I love Hours Were the Birds, but it's very much a solo folkie thing - it doesn't sound at all like Big Thief (which didn't exist yet). The sound/vibe of Abysskiss is a little static and difficult for me to engage with, for whatever reason. The new one does kind of tap into the BT vibe for me (as I said above), but yeah, it's still not the full band.

(it may be an interesting thread idea - "Love the band, indifferent to the solo artist")

fwiw - I don't think there's anything particularly unusual or mysterious to be into a band but not so into the lead singer/songwriter's solo stuff (especially if it's acoustic). ... The new one does kind of tap into the BT vibe for me (as I said above), but yeah, it's still not the full band.

― Video Drama (morrisp), Wednesday, October 28, 2020 bookmarkflaglink

Funny, I was having a similar thought about the Jeff Tweedy album that just came out (on the same day as the Lenker stuff, I think). I like Wilco but I've never been super enthusiastic about his solo material, even though it's perfectly fine and not even that far off from the full band stuff!

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

a great performance, i'm fascinated by her using a brush to strum on "dragon eyes"

yeah! really great performance. she is very straightforward. i love that.

Just noticed Adrianne did an AMA on r/indieheads yesterday

Been coming back to this one a lot recently. In terms of composition I think it's my favourite. There are things they're doing with the music that completely confounds me, like I can't understand what it is or how they conceived it

Or at least, at this stage, UFOF, Two Hands and Capacity hold level as my favourites. But these days it's the Two Hands material I find myself craving most

two hands has such great, dry 70s drums

The new Buck Meek album is really nice... kind of like a poppier Will Oldham, or mellow, mid-70s Dead. Upbeat tunes, pedal steel, warbly singing, etc.

Wow, am only three songs in (Track 3 must've been the advance single, since I remember hearing that one months ago) but am already taken with the production on Two Saviors--finding it a flattering mix of polished but scrappy so far.

a really good friend of mine, who has an excellent ear for production, also said he loved the sound of it

i have permanent "played drums in a concrete echo chamber" ears, so i have no fucking clue