Big Thief - U.F.O.F poll

A lot of good options but it’s clearly the title track for me.

for me it's still "strange", such an incredible coda

Ha yeah, either title track or strange for me. Leaning more towards the title track. It so mysterious.

"Strange" or "Jenni" or "Cattails."

cattails

good excuse to put this one on again. "century" is probably the most accessible, obvious one, but most bands spend years chasing a tone like that song's closing guitar solo.

I picked "century". Such a great, understated hook buried deep in this insular album.

I still think this is their best album. It's a really studied and considered studio album that stands out from their others. Two Hands felt more like a written-on-tour 'Time Fades Away' style thing in comparison. I could be totally incorrect on thinking that, but it just seems to fit together as a dreamy - yes insular - experience that hits me harder than the followup.

This is their one album I really like all the way through--went with "From," mainly b/c of Lenker's amazing vocal performance on it/how she ramps up to the title line "where the SCREAMING sound was coming from", as well as its great use of U.F.R. friends (unidentified field recordings); awesome bassline ornamentation/addition at the very end of that track, too

Haven't listened to this much lately, so I thought I'd put it on and vote for the first song that made me say "Yeah, that one." It was "Century."

there are several songs that would be a great choice. i don't want to influence things, but in some ways i do, so i will go ahead and say the quiet part loud: could this be a contender for the vaunted title of "most evenly distributed album" in Which album poll has the most even distribution of votes? ???

for me, though, i have to go with "jenni". a standout among standouts. i can imagine a solo-lenker version of it that would still work well, but the added power that the rest of the band provides during those choruses is something to behold, and a good example of how the band's work is distinct from their solo songs (so far)

the ambiguity of "jenni's in my room", too.

Thanks to this thread and my desperate need for a distraction today (election day, for all you folks reading this in the future), I'm now listening to all their albums in order. Midway through Capacity now, aka the BT album I never fully connected with.

Strange is probably my #2, glad to see that one connects with a lot of other people as well

good excuse to put this one on again. "century" is probably the most accessible, obvious one, but most bands spend years chasing a tone like that song's closing guitar solo.

― glengarry gary beers (voodoo chili), Tuesday, November 3, 2020 1:16 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Man, had forgotten about this, it's really perfect.

this is so hard: an album that reveals itself even well over a year since first hearing it.

it's probably a toss up between the title track and Betsy at this stage though

'switch to another lense'

I’m not voting for it but I wanted to throw love at “Contact” for being such a killer mood-setting opener for the album.

I keep on reading that as mood killer. Wasn't sure what I was going to vote for before I played this again then Terminal Paradise came on - gorgeous and heartbreaking. Not sure I'm in love with every track though, the bass singing on Betsy in particular.

the bass singing is what makes me love Betsy so much

Not keen on the opening tracks on this or Two Hands.
'Rock And Sing' in particular has a similar melodic cadence to Tom Waits' 'In The Neighbourhood' and also the tune my phone plays to wake me up in the mornings, so I get it stuck in my head a lot despite me not loving it.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Kind of perverse request - to pick just one track from this album. It’s so organic.

(That said, I’ll go with “Cattails.”)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

quite surprised how much "cattails" was the favourite

I really associate this album with cold weather and the winter (after i listened to it on repeat while taking an early morning bus through the snowy British Columbia interior last year), so i'm looking forward to revisiting this by the time December rolls around

quite surprised how much "cattails" was the favourite

― ufo, Monday, 16 November 2020 01:44 (thirty-six minutes ago) link

Me too. This track always stuck out a bit to me, like something they had done for a lark. I never disliked it but it doesn’t really represent the band at its best to me.

Their albums are all packed with tremendous songs, but (upon reflection) it’s actually not hard to pick the key* track from each:

1. “Masterpiece”
2. “Mythological Beauty”
3. “Cattails”
4. “Not”

*this doesn’t necessarily mean “best,” but: exemplary, paradigmatic, “the one you’d play for your roommate,” etc.

“Cattails” is particularly amazing – it’s just a rehearsal take, and yet somehow it transports you to deep childhood, into your favorite R.E.M. song, your favorite Dead song, a swell of nostalgia that can’t be expressed in words...

it's more the margin than it winning that's a surprise to me. it's really good, especially the way it slowly swells in intensity as it marches on and the piano at the end

don't think Cattails even made my personal best of. it kind of annoys me

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/41650wZfn3Mjd0AMcjrWDT?si=C7fW_TjhRDu_rxoEy3Fgpw