This is, for me, the least engaging of the Big Thief LPs so far. That is to say while I still quite like it and find the sounds consistently gorgeous and beautiful and all that, this album has far fewer of those moments where my breathe is taken away by the grandness or the beauty of the songs.
The standouts here are the quite uplifting and beautiful “Forgotten Eyes” which has one of my favorite lines “Forgotten tongue is the language of love”. Also this album’s stand out track and the most famous Big Thief track yet “Not” is a passionate and really uniquely structured rocker with a super rewarding and explosive end. Also the title track here is a beautiful and moody and soulful bit of Big Thief/Adrianne magic.
The album flows nicely and the songs are never bad and actually this whole album strikes me as perhaps the least emotionally fragile or down of the Lenker or Big Thief I’ve heard. This is the sound of a band getting on well and absolutely bursting with song ideas and coming together to pull it all off. As a result this is a very loose and joyful album especially by their standards. There is a love and hope present in this album (with obviously still a lot of Lenker’s dark, abstract and emotionally torn themes mixed in).
There is no equal to “Coma” here, nor “Contact”, nor “Masterpiece” and as a result for me this is a beautiful batch of B-B+ songs with no obvious A+ classic. Makes for an album that I can sink into and feel right at home enjoying one of my favorite bands of all time (its safe to say that now that I have explored their work so much) doing those special things they do best. The bass work and drumming and production and the subtly unorthodox songwriting techniques are all here and this is still top tier folk and indie rock, just by their standard I think this is the least loved of their records (note: still LOVED).
This gets a 8.1/10
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Rankings of sorts for all these disparate albums and projects so far:
#1 Capacity (2017) by Big Thief - 9.2/10
#2 A-Sides (2014) by Adrianne Lenker & Buck Meek - 8.9/10
#3 Masterpiece (2016) by Big Thief - 8.8/10
#4 U.F.O.F. (2019) by Big Thief - 8.6/10
#5 Two Hands (2019) by Big Thief - 8.1/10
#6 B-Sides (2014) by Adrianne Lenker & Buck Meek - 8.1/10
#7 abysskiss (2018) by Adrianne Lenker - 7.9/10
#8 Hours Were The Birds (2013) by Adrianne Lenker - 7.5/10
#9 Buck Meek (2018) by Buck Meek - 7.2/10 _________________ -Ryan
Okay, so my notes and comments for these next 2 will be short. Especially with this one.
This is a solo album that James Krivchenia released in 2020. James is the drummer for Big Thief. This is just about as night and day different from anything I have heard related to Big Thief as it is possible to get. It’s a 28 minute album, with lots of short, electronic almost new age/ambient watery instrumentals. There are some cool bits where it feels like I’m listening almost to an off-brand Tim Hecker or something. There are A LOT of water sounds and so this is not recommended for when you have to pee but can’t go. It IS recommend ded if you can feel you must pee but for some reason it won’t flow and you are about to get in a plane or go on a road trip and you sort of have to force the issue.
Okay, nonsense aside. This is okay. This is not my style usually and I think its sooooo different from any Meek, Lenker or Big Thief stuff so far that I won’t even rank it really alongside those albums. It will be noted aftrerward. I listened once, thought it was fine for what it was and then moved on to a couple listens to Lenker’s Instrumentals LP from 2020. If the description is interesting to you, check it out.
I guess I’d give this a 6.2/10 rating… but really a number for this is a bit silly and disrespectful because I would be lying if I said I deeply analyzed or listened closely to this record. Again, just not my jam.
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Adrianne Lenker's instrumental solo album of 2020, Instrumentals (2020)
And now for the other album on this post that is very very very different than anything else I have covered in this Big Thief project. This is the Instrumental album released alongside and as a partner to Adrianne Lenker’s Milestone 2020 release, Songs. This is 36 or so minutes, 2 tracks. The tracks are each somewhat ambient mixed with these stripped down acoustic guitar “jams” or compositions or arrangements. Somewhat this reminds me of a less focused or technical American Primitive album by like Fahey or someone like that.
This was … good. Very contemplative, and almost like you are just walking slowly alongside a guitarist who is noodling with his guitar and playing with some ideas and melodies and chords he thinks make sense for the moment. There are even a few parts of the first track that are TRULY gorgeous and stick out as such. Treack 2 is well, like song title suggests, mostly chimes or really there are a lot of chimes and some natury sounds that are there heavily on track 2. Track 2 is less interesting than 1 in my opinion. There was only one melody or guitar motif that I heard that I also remember hearing on Songs. I bet there are more than that one (its at about 11 and a half minutes into track 1, “music for indigo” when I hear some chords that exist at the beginning of one of the tracks on her other 2020 release) instance of crossover notes/melodies. But I only can honestly say I heard one.
Overall… this was fine. It is a peaceful and nicely organized little instrumental album. It does a great job capturing the state of mind and the surroundings of Lenker in that time of creativity and isolation. Its excellent music for relaxing and contemplating and its all good. Easily my least fave of her albums but that is unfair because, much like that Krivchenia album just spoken of, this can’t really be compared to any other album here. I would give this a 6.5/10 I guess. But, again, it’s a whole other world of music and it shouldn’t be compared to any other Lenker or Meek or Big Thief album.
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Rankings of sorts for all these disparate albums and projects so far:
#1 Capacity (2017) by Big Thief - 9.2/10
#2 A-Sides (2014) by Adrianne Lenker & Buck Meek - 8.9/10
#3 Masterpiece (2016) by Big Thief - 8.8/10
#4 U.F.O.F. (2019) by Big Thief - 8.6/10
#5 Two Hands (2019) by Big Thief - 8.1/10
#6 B-Sides (2014) by Adrianne Lenker & Buck Meek - 8.1/10
#7 abysskiss (2018) by Adrianne Lenker - 7.9/10
#8 Hours Were The Birds (2013) by Adrianne Lenker - 7.5/10
#9 Buck Meek (2018) by Buck Meek - 7.2/10
#10 Instrumentals (2020) by Adrianne Lenker - 6.5/10
#11 A New Found Relaxation (2020) by James Krivchenia - 6.1/10 _________________ -Ryan
There are albums I like. There are albums I love. There are albums I consider masterpieces. There are albums that I have a personal connection to and, when thought of, make me smile. There are these things and then there are albums like songs by Adrianne Lenker. There are very, VERY few albums that mean quite as much to me as this one here. A handful perhaps. And there are absolutely no other albums, or pieces of art, even that have affected me or been as integral to my life during these last 2 brutal and heartbreaking years as this album. So, as you perhaps can imagine, it is daunting trying to write something about this album. I am too close to it and too fond of it. It’s like talking about your spouse and trying to explain what you love about them. Damned challenging.
And, yet, I shall try to convey my thoughts here in brief. I am thinking I will not do this album justice. I also think that I likely will not attempt to write some grand and professional essay on the merits of this folk album. Instead, I will try to touch on some of the things I like the most, some of the charms that this album has, and some of the lyrics and lines and moments that seem to set this album apart in my mind.
The atmosphere of this record is marvelous and drips from every song and every note. The whole concept of a folk artist going through some shit in life and going to a somewhat remote cabin and isolating oneself to record a reflection of their state-of-mind is perhaps one you’ve heard before. Bon Iver’s debut is perhaps the most famous example of this. And there are many similar instances in history. While I do have a healthy respect for For Emma, Forever Ago and Nebraska and so many of these other similar solo albums recorded in isolation, I feel like songs takes the cake as the best. At least it is, by far, the one that most readily and consistently grabs me. When I hear this woman with a guitar on these recordings, it feels like all the cliches you can name: like I’m in the room with her, or like I am uncomfortably close to someone who should be alone in their hour of working their thoughts out. The album’s start is the sound of a tape recorder starting or clicking into operation, then a second later the melancholy yet detailed and beautiful guitar riff of “Two Reverse” and with that I am already on board and there for this album. It’s rare for an album to envelop me with so much atmosphere so consistently and quickly. And the fact that this is done with an adept and beautiful guitar, a brilliant singer and some occasional nature sounds added alone, is brilliant.
The songs themselves on this album called… songs, are…stunning. They are clear emotionally yet when looked at closer line by line, there are mysteries and there are abstractions and little details that are only fully or remotely understood by Adrianne herself. And yet each song has a line or lines that cut right through and make me feel like I have made some deep connection due to how relatable they are.
“Is it a crime to say I still need you?” captures that push and pull of self-conscious analyzing after a break up when so much media and so many people seem to say that in this day and age relationships are fickle and unimportant and nothing to get hung up on, and yet you still long for and need that person.
“Everything eats and is eaten. Time is fed” is a line that always makes me think about how everything is feeding off of other things and things are evolving perpetually and always NOW. Simple line, with a million tons of force behind it.
“Standing in the yard, dressed like a kid. The house is white and the lawn is dead. The lawn is dead” is a line that evokes for me similarly vivid memories and dreams reoccurring of strange things that only seem strange in hindsight. This type of visual comes up all over this album, and it consistently blows me away how Lenker is able to incorporate these visions or scenes into songs and make them come across as they do – just random flashes of recollection.
“Come, help me die, my daughter…” is equal parts heartbreaking, brilliantly evocative as an opening line to the song “come”, and delivered with such ghostly sadness, that the cumulative effect of this is just absolutely stunning. The rest of the song builds on this opening statement, a fragile, dark and deathly track where every line holds so much emotional power it can be overwhelming.
“Oh, emptiness… Tell me ‘bout your nature. Maybe I’ve been getting you wrong. I cover you with questions. I cover you with explanations. Cover you with music.” – This is a lyric which kind of kicks my ass personally because this seems about right. Through questions and agitations and music and distractions and all these things we (or I do at least) attempt to understand the void and the nothingness at the center and at the back of all experience and life as well as, usually, try with all our hearts to not stare directly at the fact that that emptiness and that void is there always at the back of all things.
“And your dearest fantasy is to put a baby in me. I could be a good mother. And I wanna be your wife. So I hold you to my knife. And I steal your letter. Not a lot, just forever.” – here is a line that makes me cry. Or, several lines, really. And I don’t know exactly why. It just strikes me as real. I have nightmares/dreams of women I’ve been with but haven’t seen in years and these similar visions of having children and settling down haunt me. And the way she says those words just kills me and strikes a very personal nerve.
And of course, perhaps the greatest song of all time, or, rather, perhaps my favorite song of all time or at least top 10, the track “anything” is a tumble of scenes from a relationship now long gone. The lines here are each one vivid and personal and yet universal and striking and the chorus… my god that chorus… it’s the most romantic and heartbreaking of choruses – so real and so honest and so direct and yet so poetic – in most songs and in most artists’ and singers’ hands it may come out as trite or sappy, but here? Nope. It comes out as one of the best songs ever. – “I don’t wanna be the owner of your fantasy. I just wanna be a part of your family. And I don’t wanna talk about anything, I don’t wanna talk about anything. I wanna kiss, kiss your eyes again. I wanna witness your eyes looking. I don’t wanna talk about anyone, I don’t wanna talk about anyone. I wanna sleep in your car while you’re driving. Lay on your lap when I’m crying.” – jesus christ.
…. And the list goes on and on. I love this album’s lyrics and the way they are delivered. Which brings me to Adrianne’s singing. I think I’ve seen here and there that some find her voice a bit grating or trying, a bit off and a bit weird. Well, I actually can understand and hear where that thought is coming from. As I have pointed out in other comments on her earlier albums, Lenker has a beautiful voice and when she so chooses she can sing a song as clearly and traditionally as a songbird. But in recent years there is a trend with her singing toward an idiosyncratic, ghostly, almost unvarnished and wavy and wavering and floating and unstable brittle beauty. That new sound and delivery reaches its pinnacle with this album. These are songs full of remembrances and indecision and grief and loss and heartbreak and tender one-on-one moments and so many human experiences and the way Adrianne chooses to express this vocally is, to me, one of the fundamental joys of this album and her music more generally. On some songs she is just floating like a ghost. On others she is almost conversationally talking about dreams and memories, and in others it sounds like her voice may crack at any moment due to the internal strain of trying not to break down. This all works to convey the emotions on songs.
Musically, it is easy to say this is a simple sound – an acoustic folk guitar sound, with some bird noises added in post sometimes, some finger picked stuff, some warm acoustic chords, etc etc… and that is true. But I feel like there are some really special musical moments and melodies here. The production is soooo stripped down and this production style works for this album with this vibe. Still, it isn’t an accident that those opening guitar lines on track 1 “Two Reverse” sound so crisp and distinct and so much better than almost any other simple woman+guitar type song. The production is doing some good work but it knows to not be intrusive even a little. The song structures and the writing musically here are perfect, not a note or chord feels wrong. And as a result, despite this being “just boring ol’ folk guitar music” this album never feels remotely derivative or boring or unengaging in the slightest. Every tone and sound fits and contributes to the power of the album, the messages being communicated, etc.
More broadly, what does this whole album and all of its parts mean to me? Well, I, like many, many around the world, had a tough time in 2020. This album was first heard by me in December 2020 and right from the jump it felt like I was hearing something bracing and needed on a spiritual level. This is an album that, when I don’t have any urges or motivations generally in life and I am feeling a bit stymied and lost, I often will play and the sound of these songs always picks me up a bit. It captures how I feel so often. Sad, lost, almost beaten, but never quite. And the fact that I can always come back to this statement and this record no matter what else is happening, and know that my friend (although I don’t know her at all and only know her music – she feels like a peer and friend) is here always with these songs and these images and this strange reassuring artistic statement gives me great peace. And it has given me much peace and succor over these hellish and heartbreaking last 16 or so months since I first heard it.
To say I love and appreciate this artist and this album would be an understatement. It is, without a doubt, one of the most important and loved pieces of art of my life and I will always ALWAYS feel a fondness and appreciation to it and the artist responsible. Thank you, Adrianne. You have no idea how much your music has helped me these last couple years and will continue to help me over the next many years as well.
10/10… of course. This is a pantheon, upper tier, all time great album. There is no more obvious 10/10 I could ever give.
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Rankings of sorts for all these disparate albums and projects so far:
#1 - songs (2020) by Adrianne Lenker 10/10
#2 Capacity (2017) by Big Thief - 9.2/10
#3 A-Sides (2014) by Adrianne Lenker & Buck Meek - 8.9/10
#4 Masterpiece (2016) by Big Thief - 8.8/10
#5 U.F.O.F. (2019) by Big Thief - 8.6/10
#6 Two Hands (2019) by Big Thief - 8.1/10
#7 B-Sides (2014) by Adrianne Lenker & Buck Meek - 8.1/10
#8 abysskiss (2018) by Adrianne Lenker - 7.9/10
#9 Hours Were The Birds (2013) by Adrianne Lenker - 7.5/10
#10 Buck Meek (2018) by Buck Meek - 7.2/10
#11 Instrumentals (2020) by Adrianne Lenker - 6.5/10
#12 A New Found Relaxation (2020) by James Krivchenia - 6.1/10
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oh and it seems I missed my planed cut off of February 11th having all 13 earlier albums done before the new Big Thief. Oh well. I will finish the final album for this in the lead up and then listen (alot) to Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You and then write my thoughts here.
I am getting the idea that Big Thief and Lenker aren't quite as interesting to quite as many people here as Mastodon. But I don't mind. I am, first and foremost, doing this little listen along for myself. But if any of you have some bones to ick with y ratings or reviews so far, or if you have some ideas and thoughts on these artists and albums... let me know. _________________ -Ryan
Almost there, brother! You're going to love the new one (I think)! :D
hell yeah! I have heard it once and now I have completed Buck Meeks Two Saviors and so I am ready to give a good half dozen close listens. My one full listen was great. Such a new and interesting direction the band has gone in. _________________ -Ryan
In early 2021, I listened to this. Hell, I listened to it at 2am that Friday night. Not because I knew who Buck Meek was (I didn’t) or because I was familiar with or a fan of Big Thief (I wasn’t at the time) but because I was a bit of a fiend for new albums this time last year. I was listening to so many new albums I made my head spin. And at the time I remember thinking it was pretty alright but generally I wasn’t too impressed. I felt it was almost TOO on the nose for me to like. It is, after all, an Americana, Folk Rock, Singer/Songwriter album by a man with a nasally somewhat Dylan and Hank Williams-ish voice and there are country elements and cool country rock bits and it was all so clearly my jam. I suppose I was partially, in a weird as fuck way, trying to not get pulled into this vortex of music so early in the year and instead focus on previously unexplored musical realms.
All that personal, irrelevant info aside, I have returned to this for the first time in a year these last few days and I have been impressed and there are some really gorgeous aspects to this album that I skimmed over before. The sound here is way way more fleshed out than on Buck’s debut LP. The sound is at time lush with steel guitar and nice harmonies and a cool mix of acoustic and electric guitar and just generally a much more full meal of a sound. The songs here are all fine and some are awesome. The first half of this in particular is rich with some really touching and invigorating Americana music. There is still that shambolic, stoic, good-humored atmosphere on this album. But there is also a sense of sadness and tragedy underlying some of these tracks which take the album to new levels above what was present on his debut 3 years prior.
Some truly cool and standout tracks that I love here are “Pareidola”, “Candle”, Second Sight”, Two saviors”, Two Moons”, and “Cannonball, Part II”. Now as you may have noticed if you are familiar with this album, you will see that those first 5 named tracks are the first 5 of the album. I do feel like this album gets a little stale or at least loses some of its charms and freshness for me in that second half. But there is always a certain midwestern humour and earnestness and some good music even on the back half. I just feel the songs and their relative quality drop off and so that boost ain’t there.
Overall this is a great entry in this Big Thief and affiliated solo albums project. This will now be added to my top 100 of 2021 after falling off last year. Buck Meek, while not the star or talent that Lenker is, has a whole other style and side to him that is vital to Big Thief. Yin Yang or whatever. The flip side of the coin. The chemistry of Lenker and her cosmic seriousness and poetry mixed with Meek’s earthy earnestness and stoic and more traditional songwriting tendencies, this is a winning mix.
Last note, I am about to finally get up to the newest Big Thief that dropped yesterday. And I have heard that album once already. And early on in this project I asked or wondered is I would ever see a return of those sweet sweet loving and tender Lenker/Meek harmonies that we heard on A-Sides EP in 2014 and… no. We never really did. This bums me out a little. I just think they had such a beautiful sound when harmonizing there. Now, of course the music that Meek and Lenker made with Big Thief was great and stunning and consistently some of the best of the last 6 years, so I am not saying it is a detriment to their records. I am just a sucker for those harmonies from ’14 and wish they would do that again.
Okay, that was a tangent and not related to this album. This gets a grade of 7.9/10, and it has the possible upward trajectory in my mind as I get more and more familiar with these tunes. For now it’s a really really good one.
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Album and project rankings so far:
#1 - songs (2020) by Adrianne Lenker 10/10
#2 Capacity (2017) by Big Thief - 9.2/10
#3 A-Sides (2014) by Adrianne Lenker & Buck Meek - 8.9/10
#4 Masterpiece (2016) by Big Thief - 8.8/10
#5 U.F.O.F. (2019) by Big Thief - 8.6/10
#6 Two Hands (2019) by Big Thief - 8.1/10
#7 B-Sides (2014) by Adrianne Lenker & Buck Meek - 8.1/10
#8 Two Saviors (2021) by Buck Meek - 7.9
#9 abysskiss (2018) by Adrianne Lenker - 7.9/10
#10 Hours Were The Birds (2013) by Adrianne Lenker - 7.5/10
#11 Buck Meek (2018) by Buck Meek - 7.2/10
#12 Instrumentals (2020) by Adrianne Lenker - 6.5/10
#13 A New Found Relaxation (2020) by James Krivchenia - 6.1/10 _________________ -Ryan
This album covers a lot. 20 songs. 81 minutes. A double album with all the hallmarks of a double album. It’s very rare for a double album to be fat-free and trimmed to just the highest quality stuff. And its rare for there to be cohesion and consistent flow for the duration of a double album. On the flip side, however, if you have a band or artist that is clicking on all cylinders and makes music that you love on a consistent basis, you can usually expect some real gems or even massive amounts of beauty when they go for broke and make an album such as this.
And all those things I just broadly about long albums, applies also to this newest album from Big Thief. Its messy, its inconsistent, its gorgeous and its varied. All these things, while generally being BY FAR the loosest, most humourous and light hearted, most fun and least serious of all Big Thief or Lenker-related albums. This represents quite a huge shift in sound and style. Sure there are hints of albums past, and they do these more trodden styles in their arsenal justice. But it would be a bit of an undersell to say that this album takes sounds that are covered in all their previous albums only. They incorporate some of the soft folk sounds of solo Lenker and quieter Big Thief, and some of the intense and loud/anthemic folk ROCK sounds that you can hear on their debut, and you can find lots of times when the percussion work and the flow of the songs have a weirdness that made U.F.O.F so fascinating, and you will even find some country rock that you would expect to hear on a Buck Meek solo album… etc. All true. BUT also, you will hear snippets of a dozen other little things or major genres that you probably have not heard on a Big Thief, Buck Meek or Adrianne Lenker album in the past. This is all very exciting. The downside? Well, this album is by a mile the least consistent and cohesive of the 5 Big Thief albums thus far.
The highlights are numerous and also, like, way WAY high up there. The track most endearing and most on repeat in isolation for me is “Simulation Swarm”. That song has such a badass, rolling, momentum to it, is produced excellently and features some really cool instrumental breakdowns that are unique as hell. Other sick tracks of particular note are the 2 tracks that most exemplify the strangeness of Big Thief in their rhythms and instrumentals: “Time Escaping” and “Little Things”. Both those tracks are so rich with cool percussive flourishes, and they just work so well despite being utterly unique to the band. And of course, the warmth and reassurance of the simple opening folk track “ Change” is killer. The cosmic, silly and playful country rock of “Spud Infinity” is so damn charming and I love that slight break in Adrianne’s vocals when she is saying a particularly funny line. You can hear her having fun.
Oh and the title track is gorgeous and seems to be garnering loads of love from fans and listeners as being one of the more popular and respected tracks here. It’s dreamy, slightly psychedelic and it has a sort of Sufjan Stevens-esque floatiness which is fun to hear. Also the fact that the song’s title and, thus, the album’s title is directly taken from Lenker’s greatest moment “anything” from her 2020 songs album makes me love it even more. Although, to be honest when I saw the title and the connection to one of my favorite albums ever I will say I may have been hoping that this album and song would be more instantly transcendant. I perhaps got my hopes up too high.
Other great songs that I love here are the sweet and lovely “Certainty”, the infectiouslessly joyful country of “Red Moon”, the stark and austere beauty of “Sparrow” and “Dried Roses”, the way-too-short but pretty well done almost indietronica ( I think?) sound of “Heavy Bend”.
There are other good ones, but to be honest, I’m getting tired of describing the individual songs. The main point being that this album is packed with some stellar stuff. MOSTLY stellar stuff. The songs and the vibe isn’t held together, however. There isn’t a flow or momentum of note here for the whole album. Which is fine, its not like every album must have this, but it is a quality I love in LPs. There are also experiments and sounds here that just don’t work for me and somewhat fall flat. The sound of tracks “Love Love Love”, “Wake Me Up To Drive:, “Blurred View” and “Flower of Blood” just strike me as good ideas and perhaps with a either a bit more fleshing out or with a full cohesive album to explore these sounds, they could have been great and interesting. As it is, the beginning of track 9 after 8 tracks of consistent (yet still not exactly cohesive) excellence, the run of tracks from “Flower of Blood” through about track 15 “Promise Is A Pendulum” don’t strike me as great, and so the album loses steam.
Also, as great as “Simulation Swarm” and “Little Things” etc are… there is no all time favorite here. Not yet at least. “Coma” or “Mary” off their 2017 album, “Masterpiece” off their debut”, “Contact” or “UFOF” or “Forgotten Eyes” off their 2019 albums are all “HOLY SHIT” songs for me. Those are tracks that are so powerful and memorable and touching that I sometimes have a hard time getting them out of mind. Nothing, for me, like that here.
But what this album does have that no other Big Thief album has and something I ADORE and makes me very very forgiving for perhaps not having those special individual songs… is a atmosphere and a vibe of fun, of happiness. I don’t know what brought these 4 musicians to this sound and vibe, but I am super happy to hear Lenker and the gang sounding so damned un-fuckin-concerned with making some kind of deep masterpiece. They instead give off adventurous, almost off the cuff creative freedom energy here. After listening to their previous music, one thing I didn’t take away from Lenker in particular was an ease and a peace of mind. This album has that. While still tackling occasionally dark themes and sounds and occasionally getting quite cerebral, the band and Adrianne don’t sound quite so weighed down. This makes me happy. As a result, despite what I said about this album having flow or arc issues, there is a certain something that DOES tie this album together. Makes me feel like I’m just along for a fun ride, listening to subtly brilliant musical minds collaborate on all the songs they wanted to make for themselves.
So, I think I’ve gone on long enough. My overall feeling for this album is happiness. I am glad to have this Big Thief in my life. This will one I return to over the years and for sure my opinion will develop. For now after 3 full listens and a few songs listened to many times in the build up and in the time since they dropped the whole album, this is mid tier Big Thief. But it’s a unique Big Thief album within their discog. It’s fun and fascinating and gorgeous and it features Adrianne fuckin Lenker (the greatest American songwriter going?...maybe) and so a mid tier Big Thief is still a record I love. I will give this a 8.4/10
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Final Rankings of these 14 projects!
#1 - songs (2020) by Adrianne Lenker 10/10
#2 Capacity (2017) by Big Thief - 9.2/10
#3 A-Sides (2014) by Adrianne Lenker & Buck Meek - 8.9/10
#4 Masterpiece (2016) by Big Thief - 8.8/10
#5 U.F.O.F. (2019) by Big Thief - 8.6/10
#6 Dragon New Mountain I Believe In You (2022) by Big Thief – 8.4/10
#7 Two Hands (2019) by Big Thief - 8.1/10
#8 B-Sides (2014) by Adrianne Lenker & Buck Meek - 8.1/10
#9 Two Saviors (2021) by Buck Meek - 7.9
#10 abysskiss (2018) by Adrianne Lenker - 7.9/10
#11 Hours Were The Birds (2013) by Adrianne Lenker - 7.5/10
#12 Buck Meek (2018) by Buck Meek - 7.2/10
#13 Instrumentals (2020) by Adrianne Lenker - 6.5/10
#14 A New Found Relaxation (2020) by James Krivchenia - 6.1/10
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and so ends this Big Thief listen party! I was a little later than I wanted to be, but overall I am satisfied. Big Thief is amazing. Adrianne Lenker is quickly ascending to hero status in my mind. And this is just a gold mine of 5 star songwriting and emotion. Folk and Indie Rock royalty right here.
I will be back soon I think for another artist deep dive. Maybe I can tie it in with a new album drop from some artist I always wanted explore fully. I will see what albums are dropping in March. Until then, have a good life everyone and let me know your personal rankings of the albums you've heard from this Big Thief/Lenker/Meek/Krivchenia set.
So, what is the greatest year in metal history? Taking all metal into consideration, but, honestly, taking into account your favorite styles, what year seems to be the most flush with 5 and 4 star albums.
I’m still relatively noob-adjacent on this stuff, but I have been listening almost exclusively to some heavy shit for a year plus and I am starting to feel 1989 was special. With some incredible Grindcore, death metal hitting its stride and some residual magic from the hay day of thrash (plus thrash and death sort of flirting with each other in fascinating ways.), Sludge and industrial metal starting to round into form, thrash becoming more technical and Progressive and of course some early black metal gems starting to dot the landscape.
I’m going to look at it and see if any other years stick out for me. But I mean look at these absolute beasts all from ‘89!:
These are my faves now. But I SEE YOU, classic Overkill, Sodom, pestilence, Kreator, Annihilator, Autopsy and MANY more that seem like they could end up becoming favorites once I explore em.
Anyway, all ye metalheads who think about such things, is there a year or years that coke yo mind as great metal years for albums? _________________ -Ryan
I think the entire 80s were pretty insane! Every year introduced new styles and bands were evolving at such a clip. Would be super hard for me to pick just one year.
I think the entire 80s were pretty insane! Ever year introduced new styles and bands were evolving at such a clip. Would be super hard for me to pick just one year.
That said, I'd probably pick 1984 or 1986.
Excellent picks. Those also come to mind for me. 1984 isn’t really my thing yet, but the development and strides of that year and with essentially the creation of sludge and black metal and the emergence of thrash, 1984 is no joke.
As for 86, well it contains the greatest heavy album ever made in Reign In Blood. Also MoP and Megadeth’s album Peace Sells… oh! And the German mad lads Kreator putting out the absurdly heavy Pleasure To Kill (giving even slayer a run for its money heaviness and extremeness-wise), Candlemass’ debut is awesome from ‘86… and after that my familiarity drops off majorly. _________________ -Ryan
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