Trips to and from the studio on the back of bicycles were worth noting in Big Thief’s press release. It is a journey which took them through an idyllic part of the world, different to ours, even if we were on the same street. Such is the beauty of looking for influence or inspiration. All Night All Day provides context to those journeys in freezing conditions, and it adds a welcome, almost inevitably warm layer. Big Thief has found a new studio strength, and there is an inspiring change of tone for All Night All Day. We can hope this extends to Double Infinity, too. Songwriter Adrianne Lenker is fast becoming a constant, prolific lyricist. It’s the same stream of consciousness heard here as is found in the works of Bob Dylan. The latter has the consistency of a decades-spanning body of work. The former has magnificent years of work ahead. All Night All Day is another reason to be inspired and excited by what Big Thief are creating.
Poison and sugar as variables exemplify that fine blur of understandable reads on life, but with romanticised, touching lyrical choices. Lenker and the band do well to overlap the fundamentals of the everyday. Experiences like love, death, eating, and drinking are shared no matter who you are. Bringing those to life in rooms where beauty is banished, those gutting lyrical choices on a bed of delightfully put-together instrumentals, is a treat. All Night All Day kindles excitement for Double Infinity brilliantly. It’s a tremendous piece of work from the band, whose instrumental spirit and convincing, personable tackling of all life’s worries is still brilliant. It was for Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You, and it is for All Night All Day also. Part of that effective warmth and embrace is the way Double Infinity was recorded.
Live with minimal overdubs, that is the promise Big Thief puts out there. It means there is less time to worry over which sound will stand out more. It’s all about precision. Not all of this new sound is a reaction to Max Oleartchik leaving the group, but his departure has seemingly triggered a unity between the remaining core members. What it meant for Double Infinity is marathon recording sessions where the group would pull from the artistic qualities of a new collective. Shimmering new sounds, a range of quiet but clear new instruments. That liveliness which comes with improvisation can be felt here, the drifting intent and sudden burst of instrumental fury towards the end. It’s an impossibility which Big Thief brings to life here. They have made the maddening response and recoil from love a soft experience.
Big Thief are at their best when they are disarming concepts too large to bear. Making sense of the expectations and experiences levelled at us is their speciality. They are breaking down love on All Night All Day, growing old on lead single Incomprehensible. That latter title is what they make of it all, and there are few presently articulate enough to compartmentalise the issues of the day and offer not camaraderie, but solutions. Big Thief are leading that with Lenker’s writing ahead of anyone else working now, while the instrumental additions are the perfect backing. A truly warm song, one of those rare, life-affirming pieces which points in the right direction and says go. We are not to know it’s the correct way, but it is worth trusting in Big Thief.
