Big Thief by Michael Buisha
Today, Big Thief share ‘Cattails’, the second new song off their forthcoming album U.F.O.F. (out 3 May). This follows the woozily gorgeous first song, ‘UFOF’ (which Pitchfork named “Best New Track”) and gives listeners a glimpse into the breadth of moods contained within this new collection.
‘Cattails’ begins as a simple song, a finger-picked accompaniment from Adrianne Lenker and propulsive drums from James Krivchenia. As the song progresses, a glorious hum begins to take hold underneath, with drones and twinkling piano joining the throng, as the song seems to become lighter than air and take flight.
Lenker says this of ‘Cattails’: “Cattails came about while we were at the studio in Washington in the pine forest. Writing it was just one of those electric multicoloured waves of connectivity just sweeping through my body. I stayed up late finishing the song and the next morning was stomping around playing it over and over again. We thought why not just record it, so James sat at the drums and we practised and by the time we’d finished practising, Dom Monks -our engineer- had already sneakily set up mics and recorded it. It was beautiful that he’d captured it right away because when James and I were playing it felt like a little portal in the fabric had opened and we were just flying. Listening back to it makes me cry sometimes.”
U.F.O.F., F standing for ‘Friend’, is the name of the highly anticipated third record by Big Thief, set to be released on May 3rd via 4AD/Rhythmethod. ?
Adrianne Lenker (guitar, vocals), Buck Meek (guitar), Max Oleartchik (bass), and James Krivchenia (drums) have spent the last 4 years on an incessant world tour, winning the devotion of an enthusiastic and rapidly expanding audience. Their first two back-to-back releases, Masterpiece (2016) and Capacity (2017), have been analysed, wept to, danced to, critically applauded, imitated, hummed idly, and shouted out loud. They have sound-tracked crowded restaurants, difficult conversations, cowboy bars, yoga classes, night drives and lonely bedrooms.
U.F.O.F. was recorded in rural western Washington at Bear Creek Studios. In a large cabin-like room, the band set up their gear to track live with engineer Dom Monks and producer Andrew Sarlo, who was also behind their previous albums. Having already lived these songs on tour, they were relaxed and ready to experiment. The raw material came quickly. Some songs were written only hours before recording and stretched out instantly, first take, vocals and all.
“Making friends with the unknown… All my songs are about this,” says Lenker; “If the nature of life is change and impermanence, I’d rather be uncomfortably awake in that truth than lost in denial.”
Big Thief – U.F.O.F.
1. Contact
2. UFOF
3. Cattails
4. From
5. Open Desert
6. Orange
7. Century
8. Strange
9. Betsy
10. Terminal Paradise
11. Jenni
12. Magic Dealer
