Next To Eternity

Big Thief “Incomprehensible”

Big Thief dropped their bass player in the time since their last album, which has resulted in the remaining trio taking the opportunity to shift and expand their sound. Their new record Double Infinity adds a new rhythm section with multiple percussionists, a crew of background singers, an additional guitarist, and other musicians playing zither, keyboards, and live tape loops. While previous Big Thief records could often feel rather stark and bare bones, the new songs are busy and dense, while retaining some of the spontaneous feel of the older recordings. A lot of the record, particularly the opening track “Incomprehensible,” reminds me a lot of late 90s/early 00s music that aimed for a folk rock + electronica aesthetic, but the minimal overdubs, live-to-tape strategy keeps it from having the “dead” in-the-box sound that can make that stuff feel dated in a bad way.

“Incomprehensible” starts as a travelogue but turns into more of a monologue as Adrianne Lenker shifts from singing about a landscape to ruminating on getting older. She seems OK with it, despite feeling pressured by culture to feel bad about it. As the song moves along, she resolves to embrace natural aging, to “let gravity be my sculptor, let the wind do my hair.” This is where the first and second halves of the lyrics align – to allow herself to be shaped by natural forces, to let herself be as wild and open as the open Canadian landscape.

Buy it from Bandcamp.