Big Thief, the beloved indie folk band just released their highly awaited 5th album Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You. Finally fans have got a large new collection of songs to swoon and cry over. The title is long and the album is much longer, consisting of 20 songs.
Change, the first song brings, comfort. It sounds like waves barely touching the shore with a steady and gentle rhythm. Time Escaping, the second song, is a big shift from the first song. It has a lot of energy with a sporadic guitar part and rolling drum fills. Spud Infinity debuted the use of a jaw harp, the little known instrument that goes BOING. This fun sound accompanied with fiddles and a banjo, makes for a lively and country-esque song. Certainty has an unexpected melody in the verse and a really catchy melody in the chorus. This song has a more classic small band Big Thief sound, where the music sounds like it was molded around the vocal melody. This song is very dynamic, even though it’s stripped down.
Nearing the end of the album, Simulation Swarm is modern and exciting with quick wordy lyrics, it’s upbeat and chaotic. In this song there is a really interesting guitar part, that stands out as something new and completely unique. Love Love Love is an alt-rock song that has a unique distorted guitar sound. The Only Place, is an acoustic song that has a beautiful plucky guitar part to go with Adrianne’s delicate voice. What’s interesting about this intimate song is the rhythm scheme. Even with all the rhyming, it’s difficult to anticipate what’s next because of the way she phrases everything. Blue Lightning is a quirky bluegrass song with a twinkly guitar part that Adrianne embellished with an occasional yodel.
Overall this album is another stunning musical and lyrical achievement. With the use of guitar pedals and layering they produced a fuller and more complex sound than in previous albums. Adrianne Lenker, the lead singer and songwriter of the band, pushes structural boundaries with her writing. She creates emotional works through seemingly nonsensical imagery. The lyrics in this album are full of fragility, self-love, comfort and care. She teaches listeners to expect the weird, because she’s not afraid to take risks as a songwriter. Big Thief walks so that other indie-folk artists can run.
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