Big Thief | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Origin | Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
Genres | |
Years active | 2015–present |
Labels | |
Members |
|
Past members | Jason Burger |
Website | bigthief |
Big Thief is an American indie folk band based in Brooklyn, New York. Its members are Adrianne Lenker (guitar, vocals), Buck Meek (guitar, backing vocals), Max Oleartchik (bass), and James Krivchenia (drums). [1]
The band's debut album, Masterpiece , was released on Saddle Creek Records in 2016. Their second studio album, Capacity , was released in 2017. In 2019, the band signed to 4AD and released two studio albums: U.F.O.F. in May 2019 and Two Hands in October 2019. Both albums received critical acclaim; U.F.O.F. was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards, and the song "Not", was nominated for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards.
The band's fifth studio album, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You , was released in February 2022. A double album, it reached the top ten in the Netherlands and was also nominated for Best Alternative Music Album at the 2023 Grammys, while its second single "Certainty" was nominated for Best Alternative Music Performance.
Adrianne Lenker met Buck Meek at a show in Boston, and after meeting him again in Brooklyn as undergraduates, the pair began performing as a duo. [2] [3] They toured as a duo in 2013, and released two EPs, a-sides and b-sides, in 2014. In 2015, after performing for two years and developing a small grassroots following, they began looking for additional members to accompany them, and formed the band Big Thief with the arrival of Max Oleartchik, a bassist and longtime friend of Meek's. James Krivchenia joined the band later, originally as a sound engineer and then as a drummer. [3] [2] All four members of Big Thief attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. [4]
The band's debut studio album, Masterpiece was released on Saddle Creek Records on May 27, 2016. [5] It received generally favorable reviews from critics; it has a rating of 79/100 on Metacritic. [6] Bob Boilen from NPR wrote that Big Thief was "a band bound by great songs," and called the title track of Masterpiece "one of the best songs I've heard this year." [7] Jillian Mapes, writing for Pitchfork Media, gave Masterpiece a rating of 7.7 out of 10 saying the songs on the album "sound cherry-picked over a lifetime of writing". [8] Robert Christgau described the album's songs as being "fragile, noisy images of a love perpetually out of reach". [9] Ben Salmon wrote in the Portland Mercury that on the album Big Thief "alternately sounds like an unearthed field recording ("Little Arrow"), a pop band with a broken heart's pulse ("Vegas"), and a classic, buzzy indie-rock outfit ("Interstate")." [1] On April 4, 2017, Big Thief premiered a new single "Mythological Beauty" on NPR. [10] The next day the band released the single's official video and confirmed that the song would appear on their second studio album, Capacity . The full album was released on June 9 via Saddle Creek. [11] Capacity received critical acclaim upon its release. On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from music critics, the album received an average score of 81 indicating "universal acclaim" based on 15 reviews. [12]
Capacity appeared on multiple album-of-the-year lists, including #1 on NPR's "Bob Boilen's Top Ten Album's of 2017". [13] Boilen said, "I don't recall the last time I had the same band in my top five albums for two years in a row. But this year's Capacity (my No. 1 album) and last year's Masterpiece (my No. 4 album) did just that." Spin named Capacity #2 on their "50 Best Albums of 2017", citing the band's "open engagement with anguish in their bracing songs." [14] The song "Mary" appeared on Pitchfork's 200 Best Songs of the 2010s list, at #44. [15]
U.F.O.F. , the band's third studio album was announced on February 26, 2019. The album was recorded at Bear Creek Studio in Woodinville, Washington. On the same day they released the album's first single, its title track, "U.F.O.F.", [16] [17] and announced a new tour across America and in Europe. The band released two more singles, "Cattails" and "Century" ahead of the album release on May 3, 2019. U.F.O.F. received critical acclaim upon its release. It was called "Best New Music" by Pitchfork , scoring a 9.2 [18] and came in at #33 on Pitchfork's 200 Best Albums of the 2010s list. [19] At Metacritic the album received an average score of 87/100. [20] In the first album's release week U.F.O.F. reached the top of Billboard charts, including the #1 position on Alternative New Artist Albums, Americana/Folk Albums, Top New Artist Albums, #2 placement for LP Vinyl Albums, #6 placement for Current Alternative Albums, #8 placement for Current Rock Albums, and #142 for Billboard Top 200 Albums. [21] The band also had 3 sold out album release shows, one the night before the album release in LA at The Fonda Theatre on May 2, another in LA on May 3 at The Bootleg Theater, [22] and a third night in Brooklyn, NY, at Elsewhere on May 5, 2019.
U.F.O.F. was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards. [23]
Big Thief released their fourth studio album, Two Hands on October 11, 2019. The album was recorded at Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, Texas, shortly after the recording of U.F.O.F. and is billed as its "Earth twin". [24] [25] The album's lead single "Not" was nominated for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards. [26]
On August 10, 2021, the band released the songs "Little Things" and "Sparrow", both which were produced by Big Thief drummer James Krivchenia. [27] "Little Things" was recorded with Shawn Everett at Five Star Studios in Topanga, California, in October 2020. "Sparrow" was recorded with Sam Evian at Flying Cloud Recordings in the Catskills, New York, in July and August 2020. [28]
On September 7, 2021, the band released a song "Certainty" [29] followed by another song "Change", on October 6. They also announced plans for a North American tour in 2022. [30]
In the November 2021 issue of Mojo , Big Thief announced their plans to release a 20-track double album in early 2022. The album was recorded in four different locations across the United States after the band quarantined in the Vermont woods for two weeks in July 2020. [31] [32] Later that month the band confirmed the album's title Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You and a February 11, 2022, release date. [33]
In June 2022, the band announced two concert dates in Oleartchik's hometown of Tel Aviv, Israel, for July 6 and 7 of the same year. [34] However, the announcement received backlash with criticism pertaining to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. [35] The band first released a statement defending their decision to perform in Israel, [36] then eventually retracted their previous statement and canceled the concert dates. [37] The cancellation was received with opposite backlash from the concert venue. [38] The band previously performed at the venue in 2017. [36]
At the 65th Annual Grammy Awards, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album and "Certainty" was nominated for Best Alternative Music Performance. [39]
In July 2023, the band released the single "Vampire Empire", [40] which they had debuted in a live performance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert earlier in February of the same year. [41]
Current members
Former member
Title | Details | Peak chart positions | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
US [43] | AUS [44] | BEL (FL) [45] | BEL (WA) [46] | GER [47] | IRE [48] | NL [49] | SCO [50] | SWI [51] | UK [52] | ||||
Masterpiece |
| — [upper-alpha 1] | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
Capacity |
| — [upper-alpha 2] | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
U.F.O.F. |
| 142 | — [upper-alpha 3] | 26 | — | — | 81 | 80 | 21 | 68 | 41 | ||
Two Hands |
| 113 | 99 | 20 | 119 | — | 78 | 59 | 8 | — | 34 | ||
Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You |
| 31 | 19 | 6 | 60 | 24 | 22 | 6 | 5 | 35 | 15 | ||
"—" denotes album that did not chart or was not released |
Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
US AAA [56] | US Alt. [57] | US Rock [58] | BEL (FL) Tip [45] | ICE [59] | UK Sales [52] | ||||||||
"Masterpiece" [60] | 2016 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Masterpiece | |||||
"Mother" [61] | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles | ||||||
"Dandelion" [62] | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||
"Mythological Beauty" [63] | 2017 | — | — | — | — | — | — [upper-alpha 4] | Capacity | |||||
"Shark Smile" [65] | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||
"Mary" [66] | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||
"U.F.O.F." [67] | 2019 | — | — | — | — [upper-alpha 5] | — | — | U.F.O.F. | |||||
"Cattails" [68] | — | — | — | — [upper-alpha 6] | — | — | |||||||
"Century" [69] | — | — | — | — [upper-alpha 7] | — | — | |||||||
"Not" | — | — | — | 30 | — | — | Two Hands | ||||||
"Forgotten Eyes" [70] | — | — | — | — [upper-alpha 8] | — | — | |||||||
"Love in Mine" [71] | 2020 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album single | |||||
"Off You" [72] | 2021 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Bills & Aches & Blues | |||||
"Little Things" / "Sparrow" [73] | — | — | — | — | 33 | — | Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You | ||||||
"Certainty" [74] | 34 | — | — | — | 11 | — | |||||||
"Change" [75] | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||
"Time Escaping" [76] | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||
"No Reason" / "Spud Infinity" [77] | — | — | — | — | 4 | — | |||||||
"Simulation Swarm" [78] | 2022 | 18 | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
"Vampire Empire" [79] | 2023 | 34 | 19 | 31 | — | — | 37 | Non-album singles | |||||
"Born for Loving You" | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||
"—" denotes a single that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |
Year | Association | Category | Nominated Work | Result | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2020 | Grammy Awards | Best Alternative Album | U.F.O.F | Nominated | [80] |
Libera Awards | Album of the Year | Won | [81] | ||
Best Alternative Rock Album | Nominated | ||||
2021 | Grammy Awards | Best Rock Performance | "Not" | Nominated | [82] |
Best Rock Song | Nominated | ||||
2023 | Grammy Awards | Best Alternative Album | Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You | Nominated | [39] |
Best Alternative Music Performance | "Certainty" | Nominated |
Weezer is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1992. Since 2001, the band has consisted of Rivers Cuomo, Patrick Wilson, Brian Bell, and Scott Shriner. They have sold 10 million albums in the US and more than 35 million worldwide.
Susan Tedeschi is an American singer and guitarist. A multiple Grammy Award nominee, she is a member of the Tedeschi Trucks Band, a conglomeration of her band, her husband Derek Trucks’ band, and other musicians.
Nayvadius DeMun Cash, known professionally as Future, is an American rapper and singer. Known for his mumble-styled vocals and prolific output, Future is considered a pioneer of the use of Auto-Tuned melodies in trap music. Due to the sustained popularity of this musical style, he is commonly regarded as one of the most influential rappers of his generation.
Rüfüs Du Sol is an Australian alternative dance group from Sydney, that consists of Tyrone Lindqvist, Jon George and James Hunt.
Glass Animals are an English indie rock band formed in Oxford in 2010. The band's line-up consists of Dave Bayley, Drew MacFarlane, Edmund Irwin-Singer, and Joe Seaward (drums).
Sylvan Esso is an American electronic pop duo from Durham, North Carolina which was formed in 2013. The band consists of singer Amelia Meath and producer Nick Sanborn. They made their debut with the single "Hey Mami" and released their eponymous debut album on Partisan Records on May 12, 2014. It reached No. 39 on the Billboard 200. They released their second album, What Now, with Loma Vista Recordings on April 28, 2017, which was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Album.
Japanese Breakfast is an American indie pop band headed by musician Michelle Zauner. Zauner started the band as a side project in 2013, when she was leading the Philadelphia-based emo group Little Big League. She has said that she named the band after seeing a GIF of Japanese breakfast and deciding that the term would be considered "exotic" to Americans; she also thought it would make others wonder what a Japanese breakfast consists of.
Capacity is the second studio album by the American band Big Thief, released through Saddle Creek Records on June 9, 2017.
Masterpiece is the debut studio album by the American band Big Thief, released through Saddle Creek Records on May 27, 2016.
U.F.O.F. is the third studio album by the American band Big Thief, released through 4AD on May 3, 2019.
Fontaines D.C. are an Irish post-punk band formed in Dublin in 2014. The band consists of Grian Chatten (vocals), Carlos O'Connell (guitar), Conor Curley (guitar), Conor Deegan III (bass), and Tom Coll (drums).
Adrianne Elizabeth Lenker is an American musician. She is the lead vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter of the band Big Thief, as well as an established solo artist.
Hykeem Jamaal Carter Jr., known professionally as Baby Keem, is an American rapper and record producer. Raised in Las Vegas, he gained recognition in the late 2010s with his contributions to Black Panther: The Album, Redemption, Crash Talk, and The Lion King: The Gift. He rose to prominence in 2019 through his sleeper hit single "Orange Soda".
Two Hands is the fourth studio album by the American band Big Thief, released through 4AD on October 11, 2019. The album comes five months after the release of the band's third studio album, U.F.O.F., and is described as its "earth twin". It was preceded by the singles "Not" and "Forgotten Eyes".
"Not" is a song by American indie rock band Big Thief, released as the first single from their fourth studio album Two Hands. It was released on August 13, 2019, by 4AD as a digital single alongside the album's announcement.
Black Pumas is an American psychedelic soul band based in Austin, Texas, led by singer/songwriter Eric Burton and guitarist/producer Adrian Quesada. The group received its first Grammy Award nomination in 2020 for Best New Artist.
Songs and Instrumentals are two studio albums by Adrianne Lenker, both released by 4AD on October 23, 2020. They are her fourth and fifth solo albums, respectively.
Silk Sonic is an American musical superduo composed of musicians Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak. The duo released their debut single, "Leave the Door Open", in March 2021. They later released "Skate" in July 2021, followed by third single, "Smokin out the Window", and their debut album, An Evening with Silk Sonic, in November 2021. The album peaked at number two on the Billboard 200, while the first three singles reached the top twenty on the Billboard Hot 100, with "Leave the Door Open" spending 18 weeks in the top ten and two non-consecutive weeks at the top spot. The song later won four Grammy Awards, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year.
Buck Meek is an American musician from Wimberley, Texas, best known as the guitarist and backing vocalist of Big Thief.
Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You is the fifth studio album by the American band Big Thief, released as a double album through 4AD on February 11, 2022. Produced by drummer James Krivchenia, the album features 20 songs which were recorded over five months in five different locations across the United States. The album was supported by six singles.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)