Big Thief - Two Hands

they are 100% a hippie band, luckily that hasn't stopped them from making good music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTIzsTv1ENY

here's the studio "change"

tour starting at the end of january, so maybe the album will be out around then, since it's set for early next year

theres a 4-song single on spotify now

That's a grouping of the four recently-released songs.

yes

So far I'm only seeing it on RYM, so grain of salt and all that, but they are showing the forthcoming album title as Dragon New Warm Mountain, I Believe in You. Which is interesting since it's pretty close to lyrics from Adrienne's solo track "anything":

Dragon in the new warm mountain
Didn’t you believe in me?

looks like some portuguese distributor leaked that, also with the detail of feb 11 release date

I’ve had trouble getting into the latest EP. I can’t help but feel like both the songwriting and production have gotten…fuzzier? Like there was an immediacy to Masterpiece and Capacity and still to a lot of UFOF and Two Hands that feels like is getting lost. But I’ll give it more chances and look forward to the double record.

the "change" single having all the previously released new singles on streaming is just a common tactic to boost streaming numbers these days fwiw

don't really think the new songs are less immediate, "change" and "certainty" are both fairly direct folk-rock tracks. "little things" is maybe 'fuzzy' in how its constantly shifting rhythms make it near-impossible to keep track of but it's also one of the best & most immediate things they've ever done. the only one of the new songs i'm not huge on is "sparrow" which is just so repetitive.

The new material lacks the raw-nerve feel of Two Hands (not surprising, the group changes up its sound with each album); and some of the country-folk songwriting does sound more conventional than what we've been accustomed to from them... but I think these songs really will need to be heard in context of the full album.

Also – I was joking about Physical Graffiti, but I do sort of have the sense that we're hearing, say, "Custard Pie" and "By the Seaside," while "Ten Years Gone" is waiting in the wings (in the form of "Time Escaping").

I also think "Red Moon" is gonna be an absolute jam

the raw-nerve feel of Two Hands

"dragon" though!

Yeah - there's yr "In My Time of Dying"

I think I like "Change" the most of the new songs so far (just the studio recordings, haven't delved into the live stuff yet). It's got a magical simplicity, but the cumulative effect of the lyrics is really weighty

Also I love the production--it sounds like they're playing in a circle and I'm standing in the middle

they are 100% a hippie band, luckily that hasn't stopped them from making good music

― Mr. Cacciatore (Moodles), Tuesday, October 5, 2021 5:55 PM (six days ago) bookmarkflaglink

OTM, in the best way possible--I get warm cosmic hug vibes like the best of Hunter/Garcia

I don't like it when she does the frail grandma voice.

Which is a good word actually for what I don't like so much about the songs on this four-song, they sound a bit frail to me. I don't like this super lo-fi recording aesthetic, I don't think it suits them well. They sounded a lot stronger on the other releases, especially the first two. They're not bad songs or anything, but I don't love any of them.

Plenty of the other new material posted above seems more promising, so yeah, I hope these are the weaker tracks/b-sides.

I love "Certainty" and "Little Things" so much, the other two are... fine? I feel like they will work much better in the context of a double album though.

xxxp at first, I thought you were referring to when Adrianne calls out, "That's my grandma!" – in the Red Moon house show clip.

lol, no I mean that voice she does on, e.g., Change, that sounds like she's just come to the door in a babushka scarf and wasn't expecting us but it's ok if we come in and have some candied fruit

I somehow didn't notice how flat she sings before I watched this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oODr-7y3M0

guys, I hate to be the ultimate buzzkill – but I was trying to figure out which Big '80s song the "Little Things" chord progression reminded me of (something by Peter Gabriel? Bruce Hornsby?), and finally realized... it's Toto's "Africa" ;-D

some Sarah Brand moments there xp

She looks/sounds a little exhausted there imo.

africa is a jam, more bands should borrow from africa

Sarah Brand comparison? I might need to have a lie down.

guys, I hate to be the ultimate buzzkill – but I was trying to figure out which Big '80s song the "Little Things" chord progression reminded me of (something by Peter Gabriel? Bruce Hornsby?), and finally realized... it's Toto's "Africa" ;-D

― juristic person (morrisp), Monday, October 11, 2021 2:22 PM (eleven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

it is very "solsbury hill"

xp The whole band looks/sounds a little wiped out in that clip...

Yeah, I thought it just looked like they were wiped out after being on the road for awhile.

What's that "chord" that Buck Meek seems to play so often, e.g. on the first song on that video - Shoulders - at around the 58 second mark?

Stretching over 5 or 6 frets

Dunno why I put the word chord in inverted commas. It'll be a chord of some kind.

Now I've heard there was a secret chord
That Buck Meek played, and it pleased the board

That so-called chord

I'd say he's either barring in a A major shape with his pointer finger on and then playing melodic lines off that with his remaining fingers, or he's in an alternate tuning that has necessitated a big stretch.

But judging by chords he plays later in the piece, he's in standard tuning.

it looks like he's doing a big stretch to grab two notes that are 5 frets apart. i doubt it's a full chord.

that note could be played on a higher string without the stretch, so i think its either easier for him to pick or he's just showing off. i think it's the latter but it's OK cuz it's subtle and he rules

After watching that live video, she sounds under the note to me a lot of the time on studio recordings as well, though, if not as strongly. It's not even a bad thing, necessarily, just something I hadn't noticed. I like a lot of singers who bend pitch.

that note could be played on a higher string without the stretch, so i think its either easier for him to pick or he's just showing off. i think it's the latter but it's OK cuz it's subtle and he rules

― diamonddave85​​ (diamonddave85), Tuesday, October 12, 2021 11:56 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

he has enormous hands from what i can tell

buck not so meek after all

Couple friends of mine saw him in a coffee shop the morning of a show here, before pitchfork. He ordered an XL magnum size

maybe he should change his name to... Buck Naked

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/AxuBVGMCAAI7KYv.png

(I realize it's time for me to resign from ILM after making that joke)

Looks like Consequence of Sound published, and then deleted, a promo piece on the new album yesterday?

there was a pre-save link for the album that lead to that article which is gone too

seems like album announcement & "time escaping" are coming in the next week

& album title is dragon new warm mountain i believe in you releasing on feb 11 as previously leaked

"time escaping" coming in the next week

if this is true... the "most wonderful time of the year" is coming early!

yeah there was a pre-save link for "time escaping" that got dug up too & it apparently indicated a release next week

That's good news, I hope we don't have to wait too much longer! I'm surprised by how much I'm anticipating this record.

The bass playing on "Not" is an underrated feature of "Not"