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Big Thief - New Album, ‘Two Hands’, & Lead Single ‘Not’
Big Thief : New Album, ‘Two Hands’, & Lead Single ‘Not’
13th August 2019

Big Thief are pleased to announce their new album, Two Hands, due on 11th October, and present its lead single, ‘Not’.  The quartet has also confirmed worldwide tour dates that will extend to the Spring of 2020 including details of a special intimate London show.

You can pre-order on black or desert peach vinyl, and CD via 4AD here +
You can pre-save, and pre-order, on all platforms here +

Big Thief had only just finished work on their 3rd album, U.F.O.F. “the celestial twin” – days before in a cabin studio in the woods of Washington State.  Now it was time to birth U.F.O.F.’s sister album – “the earth twin” – Two Hands.  30 miles west of El Paso, surrounded by 3,000 acres of pecan orchards and only a stone’s throw from the Mexican border, Big Thief (a.k.a. Adrianne Lenker, Buck Meek, Max Oleartchik, and James Krivchenia) set up their instruments as close together as possible to capture their most important collection of songs yet.  Where U.F.O.F.layered mysterious sounds and effects for levitation, Two Hands grounds itself on dried-out, cracked desert dirt. 

In sharp contrast to the wet environment of the U.F.O.F. session, the southwestern Sonic Ranch studio was chosen for its vast desert location.  The 105-degree weather boiled away any clinging memories of the green trees and wet air of the previous session.  Two Hands had to be completely different — an album about the Earth and the bones beneath it.  The songs were recorded live with almost no overdubs.  All but two songs feature entirely live vocal takes, leaving Adrianne’s voice suspended above the mix in dry air, raw and vulnerable as ever. 

“Two Hands has the songs that I’m the most proud of; I can imagine myself singing them when I’m old,” says Adrianne.  “Musically and lyrically, you can’t break it down much further than this. It’s already bare-bones.”  Lyrically this can be felt in the poetic blur of the internal and external.  These are political songs without political language.  They explore the collective wounds of our Earth.  Abstractions of the personal hint at war, environmental destruction, and the traumas that fuel it.  Across the album, there are genuine attempts to point the listener towards the very real dangers that face our planet.  When Adrianne sings “Please wake up,” she’s talking directly to the audience. 

Engineer Dom Monks and producer Andrew Sarlo, who were both behind U.F.O.F., capture the live energy as instinctually and honestly as possible.  Sarlo teamed up with James Krivchenia to mix the album, where they sought to emphasize raw power and direct energy inherent in the takes.  The journey of a song from the stage to the record is often a difficult one.  Big Thief’s advantage is their bond and loving centre as a chosen family.  They spend almost 100% of their lives together working towards a sound that they all agree upon.  A band with this level of togetherness is increasingly uncommon.  If you ask drummer James Krivchenia, bassist Max Oleartchik or guitarist Buck Meek how they write their parts, they will describe — passionately — the experience of hearing Adrianne present a new song, listening intently for hints of parts that already exist in the ether and the undertones to draw out with their respective instruments. 

With raw power and intimacy, Two Hands folds itself gracefully into Big Thief’s impressive discography.  This body of work grows deeper and more inspiring with each new album. 

Next week, on Monday 19th August, Big Thief will play a very special intimate show for fans at Bush Hall, London.  To ensure fans are able to attend, the only way to get access to buy tickets is by signing up via No Purchase Necessary or pre-ordering Two Hands on any format via 4AD.  Sign up or pre-order before Noon UK on Thursday 15th August to receive a unique code, with tickets on-sale from 10AM UK on Friday 16th.  All details and links here.

For their upcoming North American and European shows, Big Thief will be partnering with Plus1. $1 from every ticket sold in the US will be going to benefit Little Kids Rock and Youth Speaks, while shows in Canada will benefit DANS LA RUESketch, and UNYA. $1 from every ticket sold for the 2020 European dates will be going to benefit Hangarmusik, while the 2020 UK shows will benefit Girls Rock London (GRL!).

Two Hands is available to pre-order now on limited edition indie-exclusive desert peach vinyl from 4AD, the band’s webstore and indie stores, along with standard black vinyl and CD. 

Big Thief - Two Hands
4AD0180

1. Rock And Sing 
2. Forgotten Eyes
3. The Toy
4. Two Hands
5. Those Girls
6. Shoulders
7. Not
8. Wolf
9. Replaced
10. Cut My Hair

 

August
14th-17th - La Route Du Rock Festival, Saint-Malo, France
15th - 18th - Green Man Festival, Wales, UK [TICKETS]
16th - Pukkelpop Festival, Hasselt, Belgium [TICKETS]
19th - Bush Hall, London, UK

October
9th - Brooklyn Steel, New York NY, US [TICKETS]
10th - Webster Hall, New York NY, US [TICKETS]
11th - Webster Hall, New York NY, US **SOLD OUT**
12th - Higher Ground, South Burlington VT, US [TICKETS]
13th - Wilbur Theatre, Boston MA, US [TICKETS]
15th - La Tulipe, Montreal QC, Canada [TICKETS] **SOLD OUT**
16th - Phoenix Concert Theatre, Toronto ON, Canada **SOLD OUT**
17th - Majestic Theatre, Detroit, MI, US
18th - Metro, Chicago IL, US **SOLD OUT**
19th - The Sylvee, Madison, WI, US
21st - First Avenue, Minneapolis MN, US [TICKETS]
24th - Crystal Ballroom, Portland OR, US [TICKETS]
25th - Vogue Theatre, Vancouver BC, Canada [TICKETS]
26th - Moore Theatre, Seattle WA, US [TICKETS]
28th - The Fillmore, San Francisco CA, US **SOLD OUT**
30th - The Observatory, Santa Ana, CA, US

November
1st - Crescent Ballroom, Phoenix AZ, US [TICKETS]
2nd - Sister, Albuquerque NM, US [TICKETS]
4th - Stubb's Waller Creek Amphitheatre, Austin TX, US [TICKETS]
5th - Trees, Dallas TX, US [TICKETS]
7th - Variety Playhouse, Atlanta GA, US [TICKETS]
8th - Haw River Ballroom, Saxapahaw, NC, US **SOLD OUT**
9th - Union Transfer, Philadelphia PA, US [TICKETS]
10th - 9:30 Club, Washington DC, US [TICKETS]
11th - The Athenaeum Theatre, Columbus , OH, US

February
17th - LAV, Lisbon, Portugal
18th - Hard Club, Porto, Portugal
19th - Joy Eslava, Madrid, Spain
20th - La 2 de Apolo, Barcelona, Spain
22th - Locomotiv, Bologna, Italy
23th - Magnolia, Milan, Italy
24th - Epicerie Moderne, Lyon, France
25th - Cabaret Sauvage, Paris, France

27th - Eventim Apollo, London, UK
29th - Rock City, Nottingham, UK

March
1st - Albert Hall, Manchester, UK
2nd - Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow, UK
5th - Ballroom, Brussels, Belgium
6th - Paradiso, Amsterdam, Netherland
7th - Luxor, Cologne, Germany
8th - Uebel & Gefährlich, Hamburg, Germany
9th - Astra, Berlin, Germany
11th - Vega Main Hall, Copenhagen, Denmark
12th - Pustervik, Gothenburg, Sweden
13th - Debaser, Stockholm, Sweden
14th - Rockefeller, Oslo, Norway
15th - Voxhal, Aarhus, Denmark

"A true masterpiece of folk music from a band working together at the highest level.” - Pitchfork (9.2, Best New Music)
"The impact is so quiet you might miss it, but it’s revelatory enough that you can’t escape it." - Rolling Stone ****
"U.F.O.F. doesn’t feel crafted, it feels invoked from the spaces between the four hearts involved." - The Wire
“Full of subtle charm, it’s an album of deceptive depths in which to immerse yourself.” - The Observer ****
"There's a mystical bind to U.F.O.F.that grips the listener and never lets go."- Uncut (9/10)
"This ought to be the ‘difficult’ third album, but it is their best yet.” - The Sun (4.5/5)
"Their most stylistically ambitious record yet."- Loud And Quiet (9/10)
"A record full of striking transitions and lucid dreaming."- MOJO ****
"A profound and poised third album."- Record Collector ****
“A beguiling, constantly surprising record.” - Q ****