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

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?

You buy the tickets safe in the knowledge you can sell them on (for face value) if you don’t feel like it.

(Or alternatively don't buy them in the knowledge that you can buy them face value if you feel like it (although this is probably slightly more hassle).)

was really struggling to fall asleep last night and kept putting on this record and nodding off and waking up in different pockets, really ideal even though i'm currently suffering

I Think this is growing on me slightly. I keep going back to it and little things pop out each time. I like how it doesn't sound anything like Radiohead, but there are small melodic vamps that suggest these guys grew up with Kid A and HTTT.

I really wanted to like this but her voice is the epitome of banal indie.

I had a similar feeling when I first heard them - maybe not 'banal' but 'been there, done that'. The stronger/lyrically clearer songs - Paul, Mythological Beauty - were what pulled me in, feel like this one's definitely a harder sell.

a lot of this actually does feel like a better executed version of what Radiohead were going for on some of A Moon Shaped Pool, it's not that close overall but the songwriting is very Radiohead at times ("From" in particular invokes "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" quite strongly and there's the occasional melodic fragment that feels 'Radiohead' here and there) and all the individual pieces are there for the AMSP vibes (the loose swirling piano in the background of "Cattails", the general sense of ambience, a lot of the lead guitar parts especially on "From" and "Terminal Paradise", the drumming) though they come together in a much better way than on that album

i understand how some can prefer Capacity to this if they were really into the lyrics on that but this one's so much stronger musically, but i do much prefer them going all in on the dreamy folk thing that was only one part of Capacity and still don't really care for the more straightforward indie rock songs like "Shark Smile"

this actually does feel like a better executed version of what Radiohead were going for on some of A Moon Shaped Pool

The similarities are indeed there, but 'better executed'? Pffft.

I think it's unfair to compare the two too much. Radiohead is large-scale, grandiose, maximalist. Big Thief are still grounded in acoustic folk-rock and country and this album is extremely minimalist. The only similarity is in some of the melodic and guitar elements.

tfw singing in a whispery way is the epitome of banal indie

i can see feeling that way but it's a real projection from the listener

Nah. I love whispery vocals but hers lack anything resembling a signature. I would really enjoy this album otherwise.

This is the best album ever made

let's put it this way, it is quite good. probably in this year's top ten. what i really love about it is that it is an album flowing nicely with lots of excellent songs. something very rare these days.

it hasn't got the emotional heft as Capacity.but I am a convert

never heard the band before but I put on the new one for review and damn this is impressive

1st three things I thought of, in order, were:

1. Comus "First Utterance" (lol)
2. Led Zep III
3. early Joanna Newsom

pretty special mix of sounds, catchy stuff, I'm legit impressed

I don't know anything about this band (I kept confusing them with Big Youth ), but I like this album a lot.

Check out their new Song Exploder episode. P cool.

Still the best I've heard all year (in the genre). Hits so very hard without trying to do so. Effortless brilliance, straight to the gut. Goddamn.

Coming back to this again after a break, I'm finding I especially like the second half, i.e. from Century onward.

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

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, May 10, 2019 9:24 AM (two months ago) bookmarkflaglink

this album is very nice, goddamn. i don't have the intense emotional reaction to it like i do to the best of big thief, but it has a similar sonic palette (especially rozi's "old money" which would've fit right on ufof)

this is still the best album of the year.

a mysterious unmarked 7in arrived with big thief b-sides. still no "not"

apparently a new new album is coming out later this year

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