Big Thief have come a long way in the last couple of years.
2019 saw them release not one, but two, of the year's most acclaimed rock records –U.F.O.F. and Two Hands – on the backs of which they embarked on their biggest concert tour ever.
Though, of course, the tour was sadly cancelled in March 2020 due to COVID-19, the group would go on to net two Grammy nominations (Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song) for Two Hands's towering six-minute opus, Not, later that year.
Now, the Brooklyn-based quartet has returned with a pair of new songs, Little Things and Sparrow.
Between the two of them, Little Things and Sparrow are the perfect introduction to Big Thief for those uninitiated.
The former – which was recorded with Shawn Everrett at Five Star Studios in Topanga, CA in October 2020 – dances on a bewitching bed of tumbling rhythms, sprightly acoustic strumming and clipped, biting electric leads that play beautifully off, around and counter to the melody.
The latter – recorded with Sam Evian at Flying Cloud Recordings in the Catskills in July - August 2020 – is a far more subdued, but no less moving affair. Lacking a chorus (“Kept wanting to put in a chorus and the song kept spitting it out,” said Adrianne Lenker, the band's main singer, songwriter and guitarist, in a press release), Sparrow marches solemnly to a soundscape of Lenker's determined strumming and some haunting ambient guitar work from Buck Meek.
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Both songs were produced by the band's drummer, James Krivchenia.
Whether this is our first taste of the eagerly awaited follow-up to Two Hands, or a standalone two-sided single, it's clear that the pandemic hasn't slowed Big Thief down one bit.