Big Thief – Grandmother Review

A slow but steady drip of new material has been offered by Big Thief for over a year. Their performance at Øyafestivalen was a chance to demonstrate those fresh songs, some of which would feature on Double Infinity. Four songs from an album that has yet to be released. Phenomenal work, and in the days of instant access through streaming, having an audience wait but receive a taste of new material is a bold move. But it’s the right move too. Big Thief is a band whose finer details are worked out on stage. Not just for the sake of performance but for finding a new route through to the core of the song, be it a staggering stream of consciousness like Incomprehensible or the plainer and powerful, Laraaji-featuring Grandmother. Another staggering song to lose yourself in, and that should be no surprise for returning listeners. Double Infinity could be their best album yet.  

Time will tell on that, but there are promising moments to hold onto. Once more, Big Thief has adapted well to the improvisational tone. Adapting in the studio with a larger group of musicians, working fourteen-hour days, and these lush, folk-rock songs are the result. You could hardly ask for more from the Adrianne Lenker-fronted group. Strength is found once more in the instrumental quality, that shifting and steady sound which has given the band some of their very best songs. Lenker is in outstanding form on these singles, but Grandmother highlights Big Thief as a new writing unit. It is the first song Lenker, Buck Meek, and James Krivchenia have written together from scratch, and it feels like a tremendous step to take so late into their careers. A decade on, and they have finally sat down with one another to bring communal thoughts and influences out. It’s a masterstroke, and incorporating Laraaji’s outstanding voice is the extra layer Grandmother needed.  

Big Thief has no trouble in engaging those extra moments, those truths and beauties which bring on happier times. We are the makers of our mood. Everyone from McLuhan to Meek has now noted this, though the latter with Grandmother is an opportunity to reclaim the lighter touch. Big Thief is a band whose tender spots and lighter instrumental appeal are based on the contrast of the darker parts of the world, those void-like staring contests with life’s shadowy corners. It’s an antidote. Grandmother has some splendid playing and exceptional vocal work from those involved, but its real charm is its broad message. Few can pull off a message so inclusive yet so genuine. An acceptance is what rushes through this one. There is nothing more beautiful than liberating yourself, and that is what Grandmother charts. 

Freedom is spread across the song, a sharp Double Infinity release which, like the rest of the singles so far, highlights just how high a bar the band has set. They may have lost their bassist, but they gained the material needed to guide themselves to a new, instrumental bliss. But what the band gains in unity through songwriting, they lose in independence. Lenker is a strong lyricist who has proven that the stream of consciousness in their work is the most debilitating, honest part of Big Thief. There is more to come from the group, and as they incorporate further instrumentalists, a broader sound shines through. Grandmother is an example of that, but the slight change in the lyrics, as strong as they are, suggests an even playing field for the rest of the band when it comes to writing a route through the abyss.