Photo by Alexa Viscius.
Big Thief have released "No Reason" and "Spud Infinity," the sixth and seventh singles from their forthcoming album, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You, out February 11 via 4AD.
Dragon was recorded in in four sessions across the country: in upstate New York, California's Topanga Canyon, Colorado's Rocky Mountains, and Tuscon, Arizona. "No Reason" — a slow, plaintive, vintage Big Thief track — was recorded during the Rockies session. It features flute from Richard Hardy, a prolific session player whom the band heard playing in a lookout tower near the studio and invited to join them on the track.
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Where "No Reason" is atmospheric and brooding, "Spud Infinity" is light and jokey, Adrianne Lenker's lackadaisical delivery buoyed by the rest fo the group playing like an old time string band with the additions of Lenker's brother Noah on the jaw harp and Matt Davidson on the fiddle. Lenker's lyrics are wise in the winking way the best Bob Dylan and Michael Hurley tracks are. Take the song's third verse, for example:
When I say celestial
I mean extra-terrestrial
I mean accepting the alien you’ve rejected in your own heart.
When I say heart, I mean finish
The last one there is a potato knish
Baking too long in the sun of Spud Infinity.
When I say infinity I mean now
Kiss the one you are right now
Kiss your body up and down, other than your elbows
'Cause as for your elbows they’re on their own
Wandering like a rolling stone
Rubbing up against the edges of experience.
Big Thief have been releasing bits and pieces of Dragon since August's "Little Things / Sparrow" A-side / B-side, which they followed with "Certainty" in September, "Change" in October, and "Time Escaping" last month.
Listen to all seven of Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You's released singles, and view Big Thief's upcoming tour dates, below.
Big Thief 2022 tour dates
1/31 - Lille, FR - L’Aéronef *
2/1 - Paris, FR - La Cigale *
2/2 - Paris, FR - La Cigale *
2/4 - Bordeaux, FR - Rock School Barbey *
2/5 - Barcelona, ES - Sala Apolo *
2/7 - Lyon, FR - Le Transbordeur *
2/8 - Strasbourg, FR - La Laiterie Artefact *
2/9 - Zurich, CH - Kaufleuten *
2/10 - Munich, DE - Cafe Muffathalle *
2/12 - Prague, CZ - MeetFactory *
2/13 - Berlin, DE - Huxleys Neue Welt *
2/14 - Aarhus, DK - Voxhall +
2/15 - Copenhagen, DK - VEGA - SOLD OUT +
2/16 - Hamburg, DE - Fabrik *
2/18 - Cologne, DE - Live Music Hall *
2/19 - Brussels, BE - Cirque Royal *
2/21 - Utrecht, NL - TivoliVredenburg *
2/22 - Groningen, NL - De Oosterpoort *
2/24 - Manchester, GB - Manchester Academy 1 *
2/25 - Glasgow, GB - Barrowland Ballroom *
2/26 - Dublin, IE - The National Stadium *
2/27 - Bristol, UK - O2 Academy Bristol *
3/3 - London, GB - 02 Shepherd’s Bush Empire +
3/4 - London, GB - 02 Shepherd’s Bush Empire - SOLD OUT +
4/12 - Ithaca, NY - State Theatre of Ithaca
4/13 - Boston, MA - Roadrunner
4/15 - Brooklyn, NY - Kings Theatre
4/16 - Brooklyn, NY - Kings Theatre
4/18 - Montreal, QUE - L’Olympia
4/19 - Toronto, ON - Massey Hall
4/21 - Washington, DC - The Anthem
4/22 - Cleveland, OH - Agora Theatre
4/23 - Royal Oak, MI - Royal Oak Music Theatre
4/25 - Chicago, IL - Riviera Theatre
4/26 - Milwaukee, WI - The Pabst Theater
4/27 - St. Paul, MN - Palace Theatre
4/29 - Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre
4/30 - Salt Lake City, UT - Metro Music Hall
5/2 - Seattle, WA - Paramount Theatre
5/3 - Portland, OR - Roseland Theater
5/4 - Portland, OR - Roseland Theater
5/7 - Oakland, CA - Fox Theater
5/10 - Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern Theatre
5/11 - Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern Theatre
5/13 - San Diego, CA - The Observatory North Park
5/14 - Pioneertown, CA - Pappy & Harriet’s - SOLD OUT
5/15 - Pioneertown, CA - Pappy & Harriet’s
6/9 - Barcelona, ES - Primavera Sound 2022
6/11 - Rotterdam, NL - Best Kept Secret 2022
6/12 - Berlin, DE - Tempelhof Sounds
6/16 - Helsinki, FI - Sideways 2022
6/18 - Stavanger, NL - Mablis Festival 2022
6/19 - Bergen, NO - Kulturhuset i Bergen
6/20 - Oslo, NO - Rockefeller Music Hall
6/21 - Gothenburg, SE - Pustervik
* w/ KMRU
+ w/ Tucker Zimmerman
