Adrianne Lenker (Big Thief) -- abysskiss

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-XInYFDdwk

this is a previously unheard one from the new album

"once a bunch" is apparently the japanese bonus track too

i love the solo "vampire empire" arrangement so much more than any of the big thief arrangements (some of which were pretty good)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdC9jXasyTM

i really like this "anything" with the piano & violin

looks like a wonderful night

anything is too good

surely the steve fisher version is posted somewhere upthread, it's perfect

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6YRAUKczyw

"Free Treasure" sounds like "The Swimming Song" by Loudon Wainwright III. Still gorgeous though.

the studio version of "real house" is really underwhelming unfortunately, it's just sparse piano chords and doesn't have the gorgeous guitar figure in the version she was playing live. i hope we get a big thief version of it some day

lol the "vampire empire" on the album is yet another arrangement, different to the finger-picked arrangement in the live video i linked yesterday. it's really really good though

she/big thief could just put out a whole album of "vampire empire" arrangements at this point and it'd rule

overall a really good album, though not quite as magical as songs

Saw her tonight, she was pretty captivating. Even the lesser songs work when she's sitting right in front of you, she's such a great guitarist and singer. Just a pleasure to see and hear. Had a whole big auditorium holding its breath while she retuned between every single song lol.

But I was sad she didn't do "Ruined"! That's my favorite of the songs I know from the new album.

To listen to her transform into an ace melodist amazes me when I consider what rough going the first Big Thief albums were to me. Maybe it's me who's opened up. I like this solo album a lot.

it's only the first big thief album that's rough, everything since then has been melodic gold

Well the first one is patchy for sure, but hard to say an album that has songs like the title track, "Real Love" and "Paul" is "rough".

I don't feel that way anymore, but I'll claim they improved with each subsequent album.

masterpiece still has its moments but capacity was a huge jump

It's actually hard for me to separate Masterpiece and Capacity. I didn't check these guys out at all until U.F.O.F. and then really got into them with Two Hands, so I went back and bought the first two at the same time, which is when I started kicking myself for having been ignoring them.

same here

i didn't get into capacity at the time but i've grown to love it as much as the rest

I listened to Masterpiece just because of the ilm thread on it. I thought it was ok but didn’t really grab me. I circled back with UFOF and I’m with Alfred on liking each one (and each one more) from there.

I love Masterpiece!

Capacity is the one I’ve always had the hardest time connecting with (despite ILX consensus)

I was really into Masterpiece but haven't gotten too invested in anything since then, hoping to fix that someday

New album is stunning! Been playing it all day.

donut seam all day
feels like american pie though

I had the same thought re American Pie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDwEWV2X8MA

i wish this is what the studio "real house" sounded like

it's one of her very best songs but it's just not the same without the guitar part

I love this.

The writing sometimes verges on bathos and then she always gets in the gut punch, like she presents as Vonnegut and then goes Carver on you. That song (IDK the titles yet) where she suggests swimming because there won’t be any water in the future because climate change, I was ready to consign to the Dud pile, and then I burst into tears at the last line.

Sonically very cool — it’s got a ramshackle home-recorded vibe, but is also obviously very carefully put together, with almost incongruous studio elements that leash the most frayed bits & tighten everything up. Damn.

Literally burst into tears. I was on a plane. In the middle seat. It was embarrassing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCbQxOu2_6Q

this version of "ruined" with her playing a solo is really good too

Loving this album. She is writing and making music at a remarkable clip -- in the last ~four/five years she's released three Big Thief albums (one of them a double) and three solo albums -- and it's all quality. Her ability to flip between complex and utterly simple song structures reminds me of Dylan.

I don't love the album but it has a few tracks I like. Free Treasure is great.

She's a major talent. She could stop writing tomorrow and she'd have a catalog people would still be coming back to in 20 years.

Yeah for sure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YeNxFw6mTk

new song!

https://www.tiktok.com/@kizzwizzfizz/video/7362895841180372256

another new song "baby honey sweetheart darling"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1luOFTqGcA

this is such a good version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbjL2tk7dI8

and here's "once a bunch" from the japanese edition of bright future at long last

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5FQj_JLQf0

and another new one!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIiuRpq8WQM

that's a beauty

she's good at being philosophical abt love