Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You

5 stars. 2 thumbs up, WAY UP! 16 academy award nominations. 11 academy award wins. the hugo award winner for the 5th straight year!

that's my grandma

I listened to half the new songs last nite, but finding it a little hard to "get into" checking out the rest. It's kind of formidable, for some reason! I'll probably have to dip into it here & there.

xp
now they're america's grandma

i'm listening on bluetooth headphones as i go around my apartment doing things, cleaning, working on stuff.

god, perfect ending to the album, too. it's amazing how much these songs go in different directions but the flow is impeccable, particularly on the back half of the album.

Flower of Blood/Blurred View is such a moody combo and then they're kicking it back up again with Red Moon. Brilliant stuff.

I’m coming back up for “blurred mind” for the second time, I can’t wait.

what is this "that's my grandma" thing, what did i miss

it's yelled in one of the songs before an instrumental break

ah ... got it. maybe i will hear it when i stop listening to "Certainty" over and over

LP has arrived

― Pfunkboy AKA (Oor Neechy), Friday, February 11, 2022 7:29 AM (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Waiting on mine to listen to this but might break

here's the video for their hit song "that's my grandma"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMD2OGlgAEg

that's my grandma

― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson),

love this moment

i'm on track 2 and this already rules

omg this album

every melodic turn on the title track is like the best thing ever

The closing song is really nice; I also love "Red Moon" (as I already did, from the YT clips). I feel like it will really take some time to settle into the album as a whole. Honestly not sure if knowing half the songs upfront is a benefit or handicap...

haven't listened to the album yet (going to shortly), but i'm thinking that it would make the prospect of diving into a 20-song, 80-minute album a bit less daunting

Fine! I’ll listen to it

I’m not sure what’s more daunting - the sheer length and quantity of songs, or the thick brush of hyperbole that has built up after months of anticipation. I’m having trouble simply sitting and listening to this album.

Other than that stupid review about this being handed down like a treasured family heirloom, I can't say I've seen a lot of hyperbole, just a whole lot of excitement and enthusiasm. But, yeah, I can absolutely see how this comes with a lot of weight behind it.

You should check the threads on ILM

I don't know about hyperbole, per se, but there is a kind of "breakthrough" vibe to this. Like, if anything I feel like their other albums were in their own hard to describe way tougher to get into, but this one, through sheer quantity and consistency (in all its shambling, why not, "Tusk"-y inconsistency) is maybe harder to ignore. I mean, I'm listening to it right now, and my younger kid is decorating a cake, and while I don't know if she likes it, she hasn't told me to turn it off, which is something. It's undeniably pleasant (so far; I'm not done) and is just mysterious enough, just has this great aura about it, like the first couple of Band records or, sure, "Have One on Me."

you know him as joe the policeman from the what's goin down episode of that's my grandma

(lol daughter just told me she doesn't like it, because it's "weird.")

oh my kids HATE big thief

my mum loves this band so idk that their previous stuff was hard to get into or anything

new album certainly has some of their most straight-forward material ever, but also captures them at their most experimental

Just found out that they did a cover of one of my favourite Breeders songs

https://open.spotify.com/track/4NYetbTj4AQnbpUeaqhbVy?si=iRGYx39cS5amV9yiKCqXvg&utm_source=copy-link"> https://open.spotify.com/track/4NYetbTj4AQnbpUeaqhbVy?si=iRGYx39cS5amV9yiKCqXvg&utm_source=copy-link

(Off You in case the link doesn't work)

So far I'm enjoying some of the already released songs more in the context of their album sequence.

Also just taking some time away from them and letting go of expectations that the material be more in line with previous albums.

I do like a lot of what I’m hearing so far and it’s probably not surprising that a lot of my initial responses are to the d already released. For instance I think “Time Escaping” and “Little Things” both sounds much better in context. “Spud Infinity” still grates on me (and it’s more about the chorus than the mouth harp). “Certainty” and “Sparrow” remain standouts; it dawned me that “Certainty” reminds me of Palace Brothers (similar vibes as the Hope ep, or the “For the Mekons” single).

Love the title track. A lot of the rest of the album still sinking in.

xp

I hear a lot of Neil Young and Lucinda Williams. It kinda feels like this is their "country record." I miss the complexity of the past albums a little. Sonically I also feel like there's something less full about it.

Sonically it's their best, though!

It's really good imo! Rhythmically it feels like there's less going on -- I have a half-formed theory about how bands tend to lock into more standard rhythms as their tenures lengthen, not sure I could actually back this idea up but it runs on a parallel track with "bands get less weird as their audience grows" which is generally true. But the combo of the genuinely unique vocal presence -- rare as hell, not without influences but sui genreris for real -- and a solid as fuck band, and affecting melodies and decent lyrics...honestly for me they're like an MFA version of the Band. I don't like MFA fiction/poetry but maybe indie rock is the place where the MFA vibe works for me

generis, for God's own sake

trying to wait until Tuesday, look forward to it

"Not" will probably always be my favorite song by Big Thief, I'd imagine I'm on my own there, but it has something in it that reminds me of Silkworm, the highest calling

That one is up there for me.

honestly for me they're like an MFA version of the Band

I mentioned this before on here – when I got my uncle into the band last year, and he was particularly obsessed w/“Masterpiece” (the song), he said it reminded him of “The Weight.”

Never heard them before today, new Tusk though

pretty ridiculous when you remember that lenker recorded songs & instrumentals only a few months before the sessions that produced both this album & probably another upcoming double album

just heard an interview with meek where he said they did indeed consider putting out all ~45 tracks from these sessions all at once, but with a gimmick where the album would have 5 different tracklists for people to choose between

https://insidethemagic.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/clue_SD1_758_426_81_s_c1-758x400.jpg

ILM EOY #1 album 2022 and I haven’t listened to it yet.

What’s the tracklist on the vinyl (basically what are the first/last tracks of the sides) ?

Discogs has it: https://www.discogs.com/release/22078948-Big-Thief-Dragon-New-Warm-Mountain-I-Believe-In-You

Thanks !

Agreed that in context the already released songs are even better.
Still working on the “new” ones but so far the title track, “flower of blood” and “blurred view” stand out.

ILM EOY #1 album 2022 and I haven’t listened to it yet.

if the follow-up arrives this year too it'll get vote-split and just miss out, again

if there's a backlash it's all created in our minds

so much of what we struggle with is just made up