Tag Archives: big thief

#1406: Big Thief – The Toy

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For some reason, my take on Big Thief’s ‘Shoulders’ is growing to be one of the more popular posts on the blog. I login to the account, check out the stats, and on a pretty regular occurrence the post will be there in the “Most Viewed” when the time range is set to ‘Last 7 Days’. I don’t know how or where it’s being shared. But I guess it’s striking a chord with people. Just like ‘Shoulders’, today’s subject, ‘The Toy’, can also be found on Big Thief’s fourth album Two Hands, the second of two LPs they released in 2019. I was heavily unemployed that year. Big Thief made things feel somewhat better. U.F.O.F. was out in May. Don’t know how anyone else feels, but that’s still my favourite Big Thief album now. To everyone’s surprise, Two Hands was then announced in August, for release on October 11. So I waited for that date, in between filling countless job applications and feeling pretty miserable.

The day came. Went to Spotify, played that thang through. ‘The Toy’ was an instant highlight, I really liked it. Coming after the single ‘Forgotten Eyes’, it brings the energy levels down tremendously, going more for a contemplative route with a cradling, waltz tempo. On Spotify, out of the album’s first five songs, ‘The Toy’ has the second least plays. Not one that the consensus goes back to. I do suppose once you’ve heard the first verse and the “Toy in my hand is real” chorus, you’ve more or less heard the rest of the song. But it’s the repetitive nature of the song that really attracted me, plus the chord changes and guitar lines that occur throughout behind Adrianne Lenker’s up-close-and-personal vocal and Buck Meek’s short harmonies. Also, the outro after the final chorus, just the icing on the cake. Feels good to just sit and bask in the instrumental until it sizzles out the way it does. I think I hear someone giggle on the right at about 4:08 as the guitars ring out. Don’t know what was going on in that studio to cause such a reaction. Maybe it was the fact they got the take they needed. I’m glad it was left in.

I wish I could find the interview/write-up/story where it was said, but I’m sure that on it I read that the ‘toy’ in the song’s lyrics was referring to a gun. And after writing that sentence, I have found it might have actually been this one. But I think the ‘toy’ changes with each reiteration of the chorus, from a sex toy in the first, to a gun in the second, to an actual child’s play toy in the third and then…. I don’t know, maybe the world in the president’s hands in the fourth? Maybe a reach. But you read between the lines, and you’ll get what I mean. So instead of thinking about Lenker singing about a weapon in her hand, which I very much did even while typing this post up, I’m now thinking each verse is written from a different perspective, separate characters with these physical and potentially metaphorical items in their possession. Whatever their state of being, these ‘toys’ are real, they have an affect on people’s lives. They’re important. I think that’s what Lenker’s getting at. Like the song, like it a lot.

#1206: Big Thief – Shoulders

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The story of how ‘Shoulders’ came to be on Big Thief’s Two Hands album – which has now been out and round for five years, it’s crazy stuff – is very, very similar to how fellow track ‘Not’ ended up on there too. ‘Shoulders’ had been performed live by the band before the LP was released. It goes further back than even I thought it did, as judging by this live take from 2015, the band were already in the process of working on it during their Masterpiece days. Probably even before then. They played it in various places between 2017 and 2019. And it got to the point where the fans wanted to know when the studio version would be available. U.F.O.F. arrived. It wasn’t there. But to everyone’s surprise, Two Hands was announced a few months later, and there was ‘Shoulders’ in the tracklist.

A lot of comments on Big Thief videos made note about ‘Shoulders’. There was a lot of excitement for it, from what I can recall. Even in the videos where the song wasn’t played. So maybe subconsciously, I don’t know, I avoided the song altogether and didn’t hear it until it was officially a part of the Big Thief oeuvre and situated in an album of some kind. Fancy word there, “oeuvre”. I heard it, and I was quite pleased. It was indeed a good song, the people of YouTube weren’t lying. I think it was more or less stated in an interview around the time that the album was to have a rawer, one-take feel to it, in contrast to the more produced and constructed style of U.F.O.F. And ‘Shoulders’ is just another that exemplifies the aesthetic. If you’ve seen the band live, it’s very easy to pick out who’s playing what here. You get some good speakers, play it loud, and it’s like the band are in your room. Gotta appreciate inviting stuff like that.

Now here’s where I usually lay out my interpretation of a song. Sometimes I feel certain, other times not so much. When it comes to ‘Shoulders’, I must admit I’ve dug the music and sung along through the years I haven’t come to make the time for any thinking behind it all. Those descending guitar chords by Buck Meek (on the right) during the choruses scratch an itch. And Adrianne Lenker never disappoints on the vocal front. Always just that bit breathtaking when she increases the intensity on the “kiss the bad ways I have been” line. But having a look through the lyrics and knowing the themes Lenker tends to touch upon in them, I’ll make a strong suggestion and say it’s a song about her mum. I’ll leave you with that to think upon.

#1115: Big Thief – Replaced

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Any Big Thief fans out there remember 2019? That was a good year to be one, for sure. For me, it was by sheer luck that I became a follower of the group and songwriter Adrianne Lenker at the time, having found abysskiss through the Indieheads subreddit one day, liking that, and then being a little more intrigued by the singles from U.F.O.F. that followed shortly after. That album’s my favourite of Big Thief’s. Just putting that out there. But some months after that album’s release came the announcement of Two Hands, a surprise second album for the year, which was recorded immediately after sessions ceased for its predecessor.

The record contains one of the band’s most popular songs in the form of ‘Not’. Barack Obama named it as one of his songs of the year. I don’t think it’s too bad, myself. But we’re not here to talk about it. I already have. No, today’s post is dedicated to ‘Replaced’, the track that comes two songs later on Two Hands and gets the penultimate slot on the album. That second side in particular is probably one of the best in Big Thief’s whole discography. I’d give it a solid 9/10. You’ll see a couple more on this place as time goes on. Why I don’t give it the full marks is because there’s just one song on that half that I think is forgettable. But forget about that. It’s ‘Replaced’ time.

‘Replaced’ is the sole track on the album with a co-writing credit of Lenker and fellow guitarist Buck Meek. Who wrote which parts of the song I couldn’t tell you. I wonder if the music was mainly written by the latter with Lenker on the lyrics. The descending guitar riff that opens the track seems to influence Lenker’s vocal melody. Meek comes in to harmonise during those warm choruses, which leads me to believe that he at least played a part in the formation of them. What you hear on the album is the original demo for the song, recorded in February 2019 according to the liner notes, and the intimacy of it all comes through in the comforting, cosy feel of the performance. The song’s a mystery to me. Lenker could be singing about herself, about another person/other people, or taking the perspective of a character. What I’ve always thought, though, is that the line “Because in your room, we gather/To be replaced by the mystery of the heart” was about the band getting together to make some magic happen and produce some music fuelled by the abundant chemistry between the band members. It’s not a song that you can find solid answers about, so I’m throwing things out there. But with what I have, I think the song’s about Lenker/Meek’s piqued curiosity in their bandmates’ quirks (or each other’s) and the delight they have when playing together. It’s a sweet moment on the album. Definitely one of my highlights.

#995: Big Thief – Open Desert

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Big Thief’s U.F.O.F. got its fair share of critical acclaim upon its release in 2019. But looking around on various threads and websites I witnessed something more of a mixed reception. Some really liked the album, others found it to be more middling. It didn’t go anywhere. The record didn’t possess the more dynamic performances that were abound on Capacity or Masterpiece. It came across as an Adrienne Lenker solo album more than anything. I’m paraphrasing, though these were just some of the things I saw. Reminds me of the whole perception behind Pavement’s Terror Twilight. And just like that album is my favourite of that band’s, U.F.O.F. is number one on my Big Thief ranking list. Sleek-sounding laidback albums to vibe to always get two thumbs up from me.

‘Open Desert’ is one track from the album that I like quite a bit, but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anyone comment on it anywhere. YouTube doesn’t allow comments on official music uploads, so there’s no way to tell. If there’s a song on the record that highlights the production sheen that’s threaded throughout, it might just be this one. The track goes along at something of a midtempo, light twinkling guitars and ambient synthesizers take up the soundscape joined by chimes of a xylophone here and there. And there’s a great intensity of warmth during the choruses where Adrienne Lenker’s harmonies come in on both channels. Production begins to feel very full in a subtle way, before releasing and returning to a more relaxing vibe to the verses.

I don’t know what the track is about. The title doesn’t appear in the lyrics, though they appear to be poetic and vivid descriptions of actions, motions, various thoughts and feelings, and observations Lenker made at some point in time in an inspirational setting. Some allusions to death in there too, possibly. By the “Through the mirror, mountain view” line, I’m going to guess that at least some of the words were thought of during a long drive. Maybe that’s where the title comes from. This is all speculation. In the end, what matters is how I feel about it all. My blog, after all. Despite what you might read on forums and threads – might take a while, this album’s been out for more than three years now – this album isn’t boring. It’s not gonna rock your socks off, no. But it’s solid, well-produced and memorable material. You can find that in this three-and-a-half minute number.

#945: Big Thief – Not

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When Adrianne Lenker was touring for her solo 2018 album, Abysskiss, ‘Not’ was a track that she would bring out from time-to-time during some of her performances. It seemed to be the one that stuck out the most out of the newer material she would play, which got the inevitable question rolling: “When are we gonna hear a studio version of this?” Well, it wouldn’t be on the next Big Thief album. But there was great excitement when another album by the band was announced for release not to soon afterwards, coming as a surprise to everyone, and included ‘Not’ in the tracklist with a runtime of six minutes and seven seconds.

So what is ‘Not’ about? Well, it’s about the things that “it” is not. What “it” is exactly isn’t revealed in the song. But one thing’s for sure, “it” is definitely not any of the things that Lenker lists throughout. Lyrically, the song is genuinely one of a kind. Never heard a track that took an angle quite like this one. But I think what grabs everyone the most is the tight band performance and just its intensity overall. The song’s already in a minor key which sets things off with an uneasy feeling, like something’s amiss and not quite right. The feeling simmers with Lenker on guitar on the left, Max Oleartchik and James Krivchenia on bass and drums respectively, during the first verse, then Buck Meek enters on the right midway though with these eerie sustaining notes that add to the creepiness of it all. Backing vocals come in for the choruses to add some progression before everything returns to the form of the first verse.

Things take a more ominous turn about two minutes in when the guitars drop out of the mix leaving just the vocals and the rhythm section before they exploding back in again alongside a growl from a Lenker. Her vocals grow more impassioned, transitioning from yells to full-blown screams before the track takes another turn and dedicates itself to a ripping guitar solo from Lenker that lasts for almost half the track. It has to end at some point, but even when it does reach that conclusion it doesn’t sound like the band were ready to stop. At live performances the track can go on for more than eight minutes just because people appreciate the solo so much. Though it has to be said that it’s a hell of a way to cap off one of Big Thief’s strongest moments put on tape. I think I might prefer other Big Thief songs to this one. But I’m very sure that for a while when Two Hands had been digested and discussed, it was quietly agreed that ‘Not’ was the band’s best song by a mile or two.