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

First impression: melodied are weaker: too basic and repetitive within the song. Not my cup of tea. Loved Capacity though.

capacity did nothing for me but this was really immediate for me and i love it. i'm completely enamoured by that part in "strange" with the sustained "ahh" and the ascending bass line.

weirdly "from" really reminds me of late-period radiohead?

also really love the way "jenni" is so immense after most of the album is so quiet

also occurred to me re new from, quite in rainbows-y

I think it's a less immediate, less song and voice-driven record than the first two were, and part of me wishes that weren't the case, but at the same time, it's a very beautiful record with a wonderful sound.

I guess when I saw her live the new material did have that immediacy, and I feel like somehow that got a bit lost in the production of both this and the solo record. The moment I think it gets closest to that prior immediacy is on Orange.

I mean the way she does From here, for example, just connects with me much more than either recorded version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QckxTQQ9XBo&t=364s . Somehow Luke Temple's production makes her voice sound too small and cute, although I do like the abysskiss version a good deal.

The song that connects with me most directly is Terminal Paradise, which I think benefits a lot from the full band arrangement. Others, like UFOF and Strange are a bit more obscured, though really good.

And anyway, at the other end of the spectrum, songs like Paul and Real Love sometimes felt a bit too heavy handed to me, so overall I like the direction she's going in.

i've liked big thief and am excited to check this out but o_O this new pitchfork review has some lines

"Adrianne Lenker, the singer and oxygen of the Brooklyn quartet, whose lyrics can, among other things, bind all that is living and has ever lived together at the cellular level. "

Ha! I read it too. It's goofy to put it mildly.

Being able to bind all that is living and has ever lived together at the cellular level is what it takes to get a 9+ BNM score on Pitchfork in 2019. The only people meet that criteria this year are them and Beyonce.

yeesh, I love her too but

If you listen to the album and then read the review, it all kinda makes sense if a bit overblown. I do think the strength of Big Thief is that they seem plain and familiar on first blush but somehow pull you into a deep and strange world where the songs they created are the only things that exists.

But if I’d read that review prior to hearing a note of Big Thief, I’d be expecting something different—like, Charalambides or something.

that reads like the writer mixed up their Big Thief review with their "reconsidering midichlorians" piece on a Star Wars site.

I'm interested in the among other things, like can I bring my plants back to life with her lyrics? jk I love this record and I like this review too

I like parts of the review by but it's got a little too much dip on the proverbial chip

I've listened to this album twice and so far it seems a bit weightless and slight. The great thing about Capacity was its contrast of delicacy with hugely muscular moments. Each song had a very memorable 'bit' in it that was delivered with surprising immediacy whereas on this album it feels like they're tiptoeing around, trying hard not to be blunt.

This is resonating more for me than Capacity, though it is a very insular record.

I'm listening now - this is sounding fabulous. Opening two tracks especially

totally fucking obsessed with this record

i could go on and on about any song but "strange" has that gorgeous sunlit coda and "jenni" is this huge swallowing mouth of doom

“Century” has burrowed into my brain.

you have wings of gold
you will never grow old

Entrancing album. It takes me places that feel eerily familiar but I can't quite put my finger on it, like a déjà-vu. It's tender like an embrace.

i have never heard of this band before. their slow, calm, harmonical music is like a warm blanket i can wrap myself in. which works quite well right now as the temperatures outside in berlin are still quite low. the singer's voice who occasionally is quite mickey mousey (joanna newsom anyone?) bothers me sometimes but i kind of have gotten over to it. somehow their music to me sounds like coming straight from a huge dark forest full of elves and dwarfs. my fave is the first song "contact". i found it a bit hard to listen to the whole album in one go. maybe they should have gotten rid of a couple of songs in the second half. my attention span these days is not what it used to be. it must be due to the reign of the smartphone and stuff. concentration and patience have become a real challenge!

you should listen to their last album, too!! its also a blanket.

this album is beautiful

thinking there isn't anything I will love more than this for a while at least

another beautiful album by this band, but it isn't hitting me as hard as Capacity yet. prob just need to let it sink in a bit more. love the production though, particularly the way the drums sound on songs like the title track.

This is really amazing

Evokes a sort of jazzy, gauzy quality that I love about Hejira by Joni without really sounding derivative of that at all

Also would recommend if people haven't heard it - Rozi Plain - What a Boost

again not identical or anything but a very great and evocative album that has a somewhat similar feel and mix of folk/indie/jazz, def comes from a different place musically but if you like this you might like that

listening again and i think the second half is what makes it special. love how 'strange' uses a blues shuffle beat and still manages to remain so delicate, and how adrienne sounds like a totally different person on 'betsy.' and 'terminal paradise' and 'jenni' are just devastating.

The great thing about Capacity was its contrast of delicacy with hugely muscular moments.

i mean, there's that big moment near the end of 'contact,' but yeah, maybe that's one thing i miss on this record.

Evokes a sort of jazzy, gauzy quality that I love about Hejira by Joni without really sounding derivative of that at all

The great thing about Capacity was its contrast of delicacy with hugely muscular moments.

i mean, there's that big moment near the end of 'contact,' but yeah, maybe that's one thing i miss on this record.

― i think ur a controp (voodoo chili), Friday, May 10, 2019 9:35 AM (four hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I also wish there were some harder-hitting vocals/songs of the sort the first two albums had. She definitely goes more toward the delicate on this one.

how adrienne sounds like a totally different person on ‘betsy’

The wispy vocals help emphasize that weird quality they're riding so well here. It's like they exist in their own hermetically sealed universe. Going back to the older albums, they almost sound too normal to me.

Also, the arrangements are all immaculate. I'm enjoying this a lot.

their slow, calm, harmonical music is like a warm blanket i can wrap myself in.

This is a great description of the quality I most prize in any music.

xp

I also wish there were some harder-hitting vocals/songs of the sort the first two albums had. She definitely goes more toward the delicate on this one.

― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Friday, May 10, 2019 12:30 PM (five hours ago)

but the atmosphere of it is so amazing, better than anything they have achieved previously

I listened to all 3 albums in a row the other day & I really enjoyed how small and intimate this one sounded. Masterpiece, my first fave, sounds a bit too brash & widescreen when sandwiched between Capacity and UFOF. I’m really digging this one, with particular props to the Paranoid Android guitars on the title track.

listened another time w the hejira comparison in mind and it opened up the album enough for me that it's now my fav big thief i think? ums helpfully otm

I'm thinking this along with the new Lambchop will be my two most regulars listens this year. i love it. hoping the new Bill Callahan will be great to join them soon.

I love this record. I wish I found the lyrics more rewarding but that's my only criticism really

I'm definitely having a harder time accessing them than with the past albums. Really any criticism I have is in the context of this still being almost certainly one of the best records of the year.

yeah, "not as special as Capacity" is true of 99.9999% of all records.

I've been completely obsessed with this record for the last couple of weeks, have now gone back to the previous two and abysskiss, and... wow.

Has anyone seen them live? They're playing in London in a couple of days, and while it's sold out I'm tempted to try to get hold of a ticket.

i completely adore the lyrics on this album

really liked em when I saw em

saw them circa masterpiece, very good

one ear to the floor
my dog barking loud
couldn't tell for sure
where the screaming sound
was coming from

I made the effort to get a ticket and was really glad I did - they were absolutely fantastic..

Also while "Not"wouldn't fit on this record, I hope it's on the next one, I can't get it out of my head.

I haven't seen the band but I saw her solo and it was magical.

They are playing Brooklyn in October -- I hate having to plan these things so far out in advance. It's a fucking weeknight show, how can I decide five months ahead that I'll be up for it?

Shakey, when have I liked bands based on terrible hair

the songwriting isn't as pedestrian as most of their peers'

Understatement of the century, lol. The songwriting is astounding.

BT singer also has serious guitar chops

how douchey the dudes in this band look really put me off tbh. they seem pretty good from what I've heard, tho not really my thing

lol Alfred

xps

Tbf they only look douchey on 85% of the pics I've seen.

singer also has serious guitar chops

idk I just watched the clips for "Not" (upthread) and some other recent TV appearance (Kimmel) and in both the singer's just strumming a few open chords, while the other guitarist is picking arpeggios higher up the neck around a single chord shape. idgi

There are some serious fashion faux pas going on, especially the bass player and drummer, but they lean into it so hard, I just have to laugh.

musicians with bad fashion and appalling haircuts, you hate to see it

https://thefader-res.cloudinary.com/private_images/w_1440,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:best/unnamed_ay8kk0/big-thief-ufof-interview-adrianne-lenker.jpg

What kind of hat is that?

he's just back from building a barn in east PA

I haven't had the opportunity yet to see them live (though tix go on sale tmrrw for a show here in August) -- but I've been absorbed in their albums for the past few weeks ,deeper than I've been absorbed in anything for a while. They're just so good... top-percentile albums. I'm astonished by the quality of the songwriting and performances.

Also, you can't judge a band by a ropey TV performance, everyone knows that!

I will concede that Adrianne's voice may be an "acquired taste" (as I'm reminded when my wife gives me a "What the f are you listening to?" look) -- but I completely forget about that, or no longer hear it, when I'm absorbed in their music.

lol the first time I put it on my wife was instinctively irritated by Lenker's voice as well and she's generally more lenient in indie rock-related matters than I am.

The voice is the strongest element imo; striking and distinctive. The instrumental music is fine but not usually mind-blowing imo so it all depends on the songs. A few really grab me, the rest I don't mind and may continue to grow on me.

High on the list of U.F.O.F.'s numerous virtues is the brief, economical, gorgeous guitar solo that closes out "Century."

― dad genes (morrisp), Tuesday, January 28, 2020 6:27 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

like the album but that solo on "jenny" reminds me of successfully tackling the guitar solo of "go your own way" on rock band 2.

Haha, I love a good one-note gtr solo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8C_ax0XYn1E

fantastic footage of one of the new songs they were playing on tour

Sounds really nice. Are those fancy new custom guitars of some sort?

they both play collings iirc. high-end maker out of austin.

^when ur Casio DG-1 is in the shop

Anyway, that song -- OMG! I'm instantly obsessed. What does it remind me of(??) Some specific early-'90s hippie/granola rock touchpoint...?

Here's another good recording (different show):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bir8m4Q0yDk

holy shit, I can't believe this song... it's like the best thing you ever heard a cool older kid playing on a summer-camp mixtape when you're 12 years old

The only songs it specifically brings to mind, sound/vibe–wise, are Rush's "Time Stand Still" and Collective Soul's "December"... silly/inapt reference points as these may be.

It also has sort of a peak-R.E.M. feel (though not necessarily “sound”).

I can absolutely picture this song, appearing on a fuzzy live tape of an unsigned band, causing a total A&R frenzy circa 1991.

that rhythm section needs a podcast or a sitcom or something

Ha, I'd listen to that.

It does sound like a song I've known most of my life, something to fall back on. It's reassuringly life-affirming.

XX post. re the guitars - they've been playing those two Collings guitars almost exclusively for a few years now. Maybe some kind of endorsement. Otherwise you're talking five grand each.

that's a great song (& nice sounding guitars), i'd love to see them live, they seem to be a band better in concert than in the studio...

this band fucking rules

i don't have that much more to say. i was listening to fordham radio and heard a live version of 'masterpiece.' it just ripped