New releases: ‘Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You,’ Big Thief

Published 3:00 am Monday, February 14, 2022

Brooklyn-based indie rock band Big Thief seems to draw from a bottomless well of creativity. After releasing two records in 2019, the band’s fifth LP, “Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You,” is a sprawling 20-track double album.

While quantity does not always equal quality, in Big Thief’s case, the band never compromises the excellence of their songwriting. Instead of churning out carbon copies of the same song, they use each album as a playground for exploration — and it pays off.

In “Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You,” the group of four — Adrianne Lenker, Buck Meek, Max Oleartchik and James Krivchenia — recorded in four different studios with four different engineers and drummer Krivchenia as producer. The effect is a collection of songs that feels dynamic with unexpected turns throughout the track list. The soft love song “12,000 Lines” is followed by the buzzing “Simulation Swarm.”

As with all Big Thief records, Lenker’s voice and songwriting shines in the album’s quieter moments. Opener “Change” — unknowingly recorded while the band was rehearsing the song in the studio — is a striking analysis of change. Whether change is viewed through the lens of the end of a relationship or the end of a life, Lenker is able to find the beauty and necessity at the heart: “Would you walk forever in the light/ To never learn the secret of the quiet night?”

It’s the perfect opener for an album not afraid of change as Big Thief weaves through genres and themes on “Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You.”

— The Associated Press

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