Thesis: What was the music of Bright Eyes 15, 20 years ago is now the Sad Songs of the Brooklyn band Big Thief (which even appeared temporarily on Saddle Creek, the label of boss Bright Eye Conor Oberst). Evidence: Their fifth studio album DRAGON NEW WARM MOUNTAIN I BELIEVE IN YOU. Like in a completely different way, Colonel and band, the four manage to craft music from classic pieces of indie folk and rock, which is unanimously loved by many tender souls. But music that still sounds like themselves from the very first note, and even allows itself enough stubbornness to keep overly strict folk traditionalists at bay.
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Another Bright Eyes parallel: DRAGON… is anything but casually produced, and yet every wobble is carried along in Adrianne Lenker’s voice, which always sounds like the last ray of sunshine that trembles through the window before nightfall. According to the band, the proud 20 songs on the double album were recorded in four different locations: in Upstate New York, in Topanga Canyon, in the Rocky Mountains and in Tucson, Arizona.
So we hear the Big Thief sound in a wide variety of colors, hear stumbled, dark red electronics like in “Blurred View”, airy clapping or songs like “Dried Roses”, which so openly serve folk clichés that the only thing missing is the creaking of a rocking chair . Oh yes, and of course the howling locks open already with the opener “Change”. That’s not to say that Big Thief, one of the best indie consensus bands of our time, ever settle into their signature sound for too long.
SIMILAR REVIEWS
Jana Horn :: Optimism
The Texan folk singer drives the desaturation of her sound into the existential.
Grace Cummings :: Storm Queen
Amazing Grace! Folk songs with an incomparable voice full of life’s fervor.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse :: Barn
In Uncle Neil’s barn, time continues to stand still on folk and proto-grunge.
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