Big Thief Share Two New Songs
Big Thief
Share Two New Songs
Listen To ‘Little Things’ & ‘Sparrow’
bigthief.ffm.to/littlethingssparrow
Photo Credit: Josh Goleman
Today, Big Thief share two new songs, ‘Little Things’ and ‘Sparrow’. ‘Little Things’ was recorded with Shawn Everett at Five Star Studios in Topanga, CA (October 2020). ‘Sparrow’ was recorded with Sam Evian at Flying Cloud Recordings in the Catskills (July/August 2020). Both songs were produced by Big Thief’s drummer James Krivchenia. This is the first new material from the band since 2019’s critically-acclaimed Two Hands (with last year’s ‘Love in Mine’ being a Two Hands outtake).
Big Thief – ‘Little Things’
Big Thief – ‘Sparrow’
It can be said with confidence that no one has heard Big Thief as they sound on ‘Little Things’. Perhaps one of the band’s most propulsive songs yet, ‘Little Things’ is a story built upon a very literal sense of uncertainty. “It’s in this sort of evolving free time signature where the beat is always changing,” explains Krivchenia, “so Max [Oleartchik, bassist] and I were just flowing with it and guessing where the downbeats were – which gives the groove a really cool light feeling.” The uncertainty of the rhythms lay fertile ground for Adrianne Lenker’s lyrics, as she opines to a nameless lover “maybe I’m a little obsessed / Maybe you do use me” and “One step behind you / Following you down / I was inside of you / Where are you now / Where are you?”
On ‘Sparrow’, we find Big Thief at their most contemplative, poetic, and metaphorical. A sense of foreboding envelops this song-without-a-chorus (Lenker: “Kept wanting to put in a chorus and the song kept spitting it out.”), which maintains a repetitious, hymnal, almost dirge-like melodic pattern. Lenker’s biblically-tinged story of Paradise lost sprawls while the song’s intensity grows. This recording is the band’s first take of ‘Sparrow’. “We all just scattered about the room without headphones, focused and in the music – you could feel that something special was happening,” explains Krivchenia. “It was a funny instrumentation that had a really cool natural arrangement chemistry – Max on piano, Buck [Meek, guitarist/vocalist] providing this dark ambience, me on floor tom and snare and Adrianne in the middle of it with the acoustic and singing.”
The band are about to embark on their US tour, including stops at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago and The Governors Ball Music Festival in New York City. They will also return to Europe for live shows in early 2022. Tickets are available, and many of the shows are close to selling out. Purchase tickets here.
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Big Thief Tour Dates
2021 – North America
7 September – LOUISVILLE, KY, Headliners Music Hall *
8 September – INDIANAPOLIS, IN, HI-FI SOLD OUT *
10 September – CHICAGO, IL, Pitchfork Music Festival
11 September – ST. LOUIS, MO, The Pageant *
12 September – LAWRENCE, KS, Liberty Hall *
14 September – DALLAS, TX, Granada Theater ^
15 September – AUSTIN, TX, ACL Live at the Moody Theater ^
17 September – HOUSTON, TX, White Oak Music Hall Downstairs ^
18 September – NEW ORLEANS, LA, Civic Theatre ^
20 September – NASHVILLE, TN, Ryman Auditorium *
21 September – ATLANTA, GA, The Eastern *
22 September – RALEIGH, NC, North Caroline Museum of Art +
24 September – RICHMOND, VA, The National #
25 September – QUEENS, NY, The Governors Ball Music Festival
27 September – BUFFALO, NY, Asbury Hall
28 September – SOUTH BURLINGTON, VT, Higher Ground SOLD OUT #
30 September – NORTHAMPTON, MA, Pines Theatre SOLD OUT %
1 October – PHILADELPHIA, PA, Union Transfer SOLD OUT *
2 October – PHILADELPHIA, PA, Union Transfer SOLD OUT *
*with Mind Maintenance
^with Jimmy Stallings
#with Natural Information Society
+with Molly Sarlé
%with Alex G
2022 – UK & Europe
31 January – LILLE, FR, Aeronef
1 February – PARIS, FR, La Cigale
4 February – BORDEAUX, FR, Rock School Barbey
5 February – BARCELONA, ES, Sala Apolo
7 February – LYON, FR, Le Transbordeur
8 February – STRASBOURG, FR, La Laiterie
9 February – ZURICH, CH, Kaufleuten
10 February – MUNICH, DE, Muffathalle
12 February – PRAGUE, CZ, MeetFactory
13 February – BERLIN, DE, Huxleys
15 February – COPENHAGEN, DK, VEGA
16 February – HAMBURG, DE, Fabrik
18 February – COLOGNE, DE, Live Music Hall
19 February – BRUSSELS, BE, Cirque Royal
21 February – UTRECHT, NL, Ronda
22 February – GRONINGEN, NL, De Oosterpoort
24 February – MANCHESTER, GB, Manchester Academy 1
25 February – GLASGOW, GB, Barrowland
26 February – DUBLIN, IE, National Stadium
27 February – BRISTOL, GB, O2 Academy Bristol
2 March – LONDON, GB, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
3 March – LONDON, GB, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
4 March – LONDON, GB, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
9 June – BARCELONA, ES, Primavera Sound 2022
‘Little Things’ / ‘Sparrow’ Cover Art
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