BIG THIEF ^US

Force and intimacy from one of the indie scene’s most praised and cherished acts

2019 was the year that saw the quartet Big Thief ascend to indie-rock superstardom.

In the first half of the year the Brooklyn band released their third album, U.F.O.F. With a collection of eerie spectral folk songs recorded in a forest, the four musicians had tapped into a rare power and synchronicity. In the second half of the year, Big Thief released Two Hands, an album they cut in the Texas desert, which traded its predecessor’s layered, meticulous beauty for raw live takes.

Big Thief already boasted an impressive catalogue and a fervent fan base, and singer and songwriter Adrienne Lenker’s solo releases had created a more sparse beauty – but in 2019 their reputation as one of their genre’s leading lights crystallised. Both Big Thief albums ended on various end-of-year lists.

The band have taken their time finishing the fifth album. Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You is the mystical and haunting title, and the songs on it are just as haunting as they are overwhelming. With no less than 20 songs that move in all kinds of directions, Big Thief has made a big album in more than one sense of the word. They are, what one review underlines, “at their creative peak” so it looks like an early contender for album of the year 2022.

Want of taste if what they can pull off live? Just click here for a downright feral performance of one of their very best songs, “Not”. You’ll quickly feel the chemistry that becomes explosive on stage.

The band knows how to play up the rock elements in their sound when playing live. Lenker and her bandmates can converge country, indie rock, folk and classic rock into a shapeshifting entity all their own. They sound strong and delicate in equal measure – a reminder of how much a band can accomplish within the standard confines of two guitars, bass and drums.

You’re in for a sweet treat when Big Thief plays Roskilde Festival 2022. Look forward to experiencing one of the most praised and cherished indie bands right now.