BeatRoute Magazine BC Edition - October 2019

MUSiC
BIG
THIEF
Brooklyn folk-rockers’ less-is-more
sound approaches perfection
By MAGGIE MCPHEE
F
ate does not smile upon the initial
attempt at an interview with
Big Thief frontwoman Adrianne
Lenker. What starts as technological
difficulties — navigating her Brooklyn
apartment for a clear signal — escalates when a
balcony window pops out of its frame and falls
on her girlfriend’s head.
When she calls back later in the day after
making sure no harm had been done, Lenker
uses the incident as a point of departure to
discuss the intention behind Two Hands, the
Brooklyn-based indie-folk outfit’s second album
of 2019. “The earth is like a body, like a
vessel. It’s our truest home just like our bodies
are homes. And if I get a cut or if I hit my head,”
she says with a laugh, “I’m suddenly aware of
all this fragility,‘oh it’s the only body I’ve got,
I better take care of this precious being.’ That’s
Earth.”
It takes a disarmingly short amount of time on
the phone for Lenker to ease into the philosophical.
She’s discerning in a way that would cause
whiplash if not for her humility. Lenker precedes
every point with “I wonder if” and punctuates
her insight with laughter and nearly audible
shrugs. Long silences elapse as she gathers her
thoughts, and when she does speak the words
emanate from a deeply thoughtful place.
Big Thief’s open-heartedness and commitment
to surviving “as an organism, as one entity,”
has led them to a remarkable place: not
only will they have released U.F.O.F. and Two
Hands just six months shy of each other, but
the two projects coalesce into a broader meta-
CONTINUED ON PG. 8 k
DUSTIN CONDREN
OCTOBER 2019 BEATROUTE 7