Big Thief - Double Infinity

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

1 Incomprehensible 3:53
2 Words 3:47
3 Los Angeles 3:57
4 All Night All Day 4:48
5 Double Infinity 4:12
6 No Fear 6:58
7 Grandmother (feat. Laraaji) 6:00
8 Happy With You 4:26
9 How Could I Have Known 4:48

out 5 september

but where are the other 11 songs???

it wouldn't surprise me if there's a follow-up next year, they have a lot more unreleased material than this & we know they attempted to record a lot more than these 9 songs during the sessions for this album in january

"incomprehensible" is very different to how they were playing it live (although very much in line with the sound of other new tracks) but it's wonderful

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qArEypGxUk

they've played the whole album live except for the title track and i'm particularly happy "grandmother" is here, hopefully they'll do it justice

if anyone wants an idea of what the rest of the album's going to resemble:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqkWxgM1mIk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAqYmRwRmM0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ivn2n4aZA0

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OQmqY45Lf4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAzc5dYL_Ng

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

"all night all day" is at 45:10 in that long one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfZM703_UJk

and i pasted "happy with you" twice instead of "grandmother", the best song

that's my grandma!

gonna turn it all into rock and roll!

mikey buishas, who's credited with keys & tape loops on the album, was the drummer in adrianne & buck's pre-big thief band pencil

The "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" chord changes on "Incomprehensible" are not doing it for me, but this is coming from a v casual BT fan whose fave releases of theirs were U.F.O.F. and Live at the Bunker and was only really floored by "Blurred View" on Dragon/kinda wish(ed) them and Shawn Everett would reunite and veer off further into that direction at some point.

"No Fear"'s 8+2+8/slow 5+4 rhythm is grabbing me much more on that live clip, though, thanks for posting all those, ufo

i hope "no fear" is going to be absolutely gigantic on record

i very much expect this to be by far their least folk album. "incomprehensible" really reminds me of loose fur's "laminated cat", there's a similar folk-rock-gone-krautrock vibe

Very excited for this! New song needs some getting used to.

I like the new one, it's trippy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sd0E6tLPQM

"all night all day" sounds as expected, percussive groove with ambient noodling, i like it more than incomprehensible

yea "all night all day" is really nice. when the harmonies and noodling come in at the end it really elevates what came before

Between this and last year's "Lunch", maybe we need an "ode to oral sex song of the year".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOeELtc6fqg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqIeKeQY8G4

"los angeles" and "grandmother"

"los angeles" sounds how i'd expected but "grandmother" is totally different than the live version, this dream-pop arrangement is quite nice but it's not the same as the intense neil young-esque version they were playing live

could've done without laraaji on grandmother but it's not my jam anyway, los angeles on the other hand - great stuff!

I was hoping he'd be on kalimba or zither there

this is a merely pretty good album from a band that i'm used to being transcendent

"words" and "how could i have known" are both fantastic

I've liked the released tracks to varying degrees. I thought they got great with Dragon... and were often good and sometimes not before it.

I...hope I like these songs better in context.

Probably already released but they just posted a thank-you message with a full credit list:

--

Adam Brisbin - guitar
Adrianne Lenker - guitar, voice, drone, percussion, ambience
Alena Spanger - voice
Buck Meek - guitar, voice
Caleb Michel - percussion
Hannah Cohen - voice
James Krivchenia - drumset, percussion, synth, voice, drone, ambience
Jon Nellen - percussion
Joshua Crumbly - bass
June McDoom - voice
Laraaji - voice, zither, tablet, percussion
Mikel Patrick Avery - percussion
Mikey Buishas - piano, tape loop, synth

first listen this is very pretty and a good vibe but also very same-y? i haven't felt that way about any of their previous albums, even the songs that were stylistically similar had a distinctive element, and i'm only really getting that from laraaji on "grandmother." the songs aren't grabbing me immediately like a dozen or so did on the last one

yeah they developed a sound for the album and put everything through that sound. it's not a bad sound but there's not a lot of dynamics going on which helps to make it all blend together

i don't like what they ended up doing with "no fear", it's definitely one of the weaker songs here. in the live version from last year it built up tension and released that (in the vein of "contact") with a section ~5 minutes in that's completely gone from the studio version, so now it's just 7 minutes of meandering, it doesn't even have the same tension

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

"happy with you" is also a pretty weak song but that was the case in the live versions too, the few lines it has could have been a great starting point but they're not really enough to be the entire song. the backing is gorgeous anyway though

a lot of this reminds me of late period cocteau twins when they expanded their live band and had two drummers. vocals are doing something completely different of course but it's a similar vibe, especially "grandmother"

i like "no fear" as a change of pace, but agreed that it pales in comparison to the live version.

fun fact: spofity lists big thief as currently having 6,666,667 monthly listeners *devil horns*

I think "Happy with You" is an official Bad Song.

first listen this is very pretty and a good vibe but also very same-y? i haven't felt that way about any of their previous albums, even the songs that were stylistically similar had a distinctive element, and i'm only really getting that from laraaji on "grandmother." the songs aren't grabbing me immediately like a dozen or so did on the last one

pretty much my take, but the vibe is good enough that i can imagine listening to it a lot

haven't listened but i really hate this album cover

https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/683f114f95637f20b5cdf0e9/1:1/w_320,c_limit/Big-Thief-Double-Infinity.jpg

it just needs a garish jagged font to be an early 2000s drum'n'bass mix

https://i.imgur.com/edRBxhI.png

Featured on MTV AMP

spuddle infinity

thank u jaymc

Just had my first listen during a perfectly timed drive from LA to Long Beach. fwiw I ignored most of the advance songs and live YouTubes so I am essentially hearing the whole thing cold.

I like it overall. Definitely agree it is a more consistent/coherent vibe than some of their others, especially DNWMIBIY. But that doesn’t bother me - I’m hearing it as a feature not a bug. Takes a song or two to really get going but I think the middle section of this album is really strong - it kicked into gear for me on “All Night All Day” and kept me highly absorbed through “Grandmother”.

I don’t think “Happy With You” is bad but agree that lyrically at least it feels unfinished.

Seems like a silly complaint, but if they made the drums/percussion 3dB quieter and slightly more centred in the mix, I'd enjoy this a lot more. Love most of the songs as played live, could get into the album arrangements, but the loud drums are really fatiguing to my ears.

japan bonus track "giving it all" is pretty good and probably would have been a nice change of pace on the album proper, it's interesting to hear them put the ambient noodling in service of a more traditional finger-picked folk song

Oh wow. I don't know how to feel about this. Dragon was my "coming out of lockdown" album and their music means a lot to me. Ehat I know for sure is "All Day All Night" is one of my favourite songs of the year. "Haopy with you" is sadly not up to my expectations after hearing it live: There ws bile and pain in that song which is non-present in the studio version. But overall I'm enjoying this and it's going to take a few listens.

Excuse the typos

i guess it would have been kinda unfair if lenker had put out a second album this year that's as incredible as live at revolution hall

"Happy With You" was such a highlight from when I saw them live. The repetitious, unfinished-sounding feeling was a feature, not a bug - Lenker boldly staying on track by unwaveringly switching from these two refrains. And it sounded so intense. I loved it. The studio version is too soft and pretty for what I think the song deserves

What i do like is how concise and of-a-piece it sounds. The tracks blend together like a mixtape. You can sit and be in this world for a short while and it's a nice place to be. Very different from Dragon which was a big chocolate box record

'Los Angeles'makes me think of Cocteau Twins 'Wolf In The Breast'

All Night All Day is so beautiful though. It makes the album worth its weight

Okay... the title track is also very beautiful.

But... there is somethibg about the production choices on this album that doesnt work too great for me. I think it's the drum sound.

First time around and some nice to great tracks but I had to skip « happy with you » after a while as it got so annoying

i like "Words"

How Could I Have Known is a lovely send off

I think "No Fear" is one of the most compelling things they've ever done. I listened to the live version posted upthread and I think they made the right call to cut that bridge section and commit to repeating the one verse for the whole song. Luxuriating in this groove that alternates counts of 10 and 8 while sounding like the most natural thing in the world, meditating on one cosmic verse of lyrics over and over, guitar swells bubbling up, chimes nearly overtaking everything in the last minute. A real journey through space and time

The Big Thief/Alien: Earth crossover (Lawther says in this interview that Lenker is his celebrity crush)

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/sep/06/alex-lawther-alien-earth-actor-director-interview

xp Yeah, "No Fear" is my favorite

such a shame about "Happy With You". That was a highlight when I saw them way back around late 2022 and it stuck with me. maybe i'll come round to this version, but the live version was stripped-down, raw and rawking; the album version is all washy, pretty and meek. It changes the whole feeling and meaning of the song for me

Listening to the album this morning, the whole thing broke open for me. I love it all now.

i think this is going to be a big grower. Dragon was the only one that grabbed me the first time i heard it

it's definitely a whole-ass vibe. just a lovely, meandering little haze to get lost in for awhile. it's been strange reading the reviews and seeing how much emphasis is put on the lyrics, which to me feel almost inconsequential, especially next to the mood that's being created. the whole thing has got me searching for antecedents; the All Music review was nice enough to remind me of The Amazing, who I do think have treaded similar ground, as well as Woods, who I honestly haven't really listened to.

Speaking of emphasis on lyrics, I would love to read a deep analysis on Lenker's repeated use of "sugar" and "poison" throughout the BT discography.

so good and getting better, would have never thought "The album was recorded live with minimal overdubs." (from the 4AD listing) 21st century music technology

great album. one song I found really annoying in a way that I will probably end up loving

I'm really coming round to this now. Evol j, is right. And the way the tracks segue into each other is a really nice touch

i was trying to figure out what the violin on "how could i have known" actually is since no one's credited with it (was it actually heavily processed guitar?) but it turns out it's laraaji playing a violin synth on his ipad

"happy with you" in some ways highlights just how wonderful their playing is here, it's very far from lenker's strongest song (the 'poison shame' part still grates) but the arrangement manages to bring so much out of it. i'm really glad they've found a bassist who's had no trouble filling oleartchik's shoes

you all really really should listen to live at revolution hall though

it sounded so great live as an angsty rawk song. the repetition really worked in its favour. i dunno, the whole feel and implicit meaning of the song is flipped with this gentler arrangement

i've completely come round to this album. proof is in the pudding now i've had a few listens.

the only ones i'm not sure about are happy with you and grandmother; the latter because laraaji doesn't really augment it especially well - I like the fact they got him in as it sounds like they're big admirers, but it comes across like he's free-adlibbing as a first take and it doesn't gel with the sound.

I thought Grandmother was the highlight

After a few listens I think this is a good album with a lot of highlights, it's not as impressive in multiple ways as New Warm Dragon Mtn, but a solid and likable effort from a great band. I even like Happy With You except for the part everyone doesn't like — there's something off in that section, maybe it's the way they're moving the chords, maybe it's "supposed to sound like that," but it's just kind of uncomfortable imo.

I went from curious non-fan to ecstasy when they dropped Dragon... in early '22, so the release of this merely good album is the midpoint I needed.

I enjoy the breeziness of this one, it sounds like they are jamming and having fun

What is the bit everyone doesn't like in Happy With You?

I have noticed, when trying to play their songs on guitar, that they often use what I think of as "ambiguous" chord changes.

I'm not music theory savvy enough to describe it, but instead of, say, moving decisely from a C to a G chord, they'll change to some sort of C/G hybrid, and often throw in another dissonant note to diminish it further in some way.

It is strange because wheb I try to play and sing, my voice will want to go straight into the G, but instead there's a tension and ambiguity, so it can be hard to do

Yeah, Lenker and Meek use all sorts of odd tunings and chords right?

The odd bit of Happy With You is the "poison/shame" refrain, which is some kind of key change. Looking at people's chord charts for the songs it looks like it moves from D in the first part to ... maybe Am? The sequencing is unusual. Specifically where it apparently goes Bm-Am-E7. Maybe my ears will adjust.

(also those chords are almost certainly not quite right, it's as close as whoever transcribed it for online guitar sites could get)

Agree with Alfred & Moodles. The relatively slight length and tenor of this record feel appropriate following Dragon. Breeziness is a good word; I find it a fast play.

I played through all of their albums the other day and it’s interesting to hear Dragon MWM after some time away, and in context of the new one. In some ways it now reads as “transitional” to me. There is probably almost an albums worth of material that layered in that anticipates Double Infinity. But it’s mixed up with so much other stuff it’s not really obvious that that’s the direction they were going to take here

I took Dragon and busted it up into 4 playlists based on which recording session / producer the song was from, which was an interesting exercise. DNWM is kind of a masterclass in album sequencing, in that it could have been a real hodgepodge but somehow it hangs together despite being made up from 4 VERY different-sounding sessions.

The Everett quartet is probably what you’re hearing as the “transitional” numbers? (e.g. Time Escaping, Simulation Swarm)

to me the sound of double infinity kinda feels like trying to recreate the atmosphere of u.f.o.f. live in the studio instead of with overdubs, with all the weird ambience & sonic manipulation happening in real time. it's a very different set of songs though

dragon new warm mountain ultimately isn't that disparate, it's still all leaning into the folkier end of their sound, with "flower of blood" being the only really loud rock song and that's only loud in a dream pop way (i guess maybe "love love love" but it's pretty restrained too). notably, they left off the rock version of the title track which would have been more aggressive than anything on the album but i still do hope they put that out some day, maybe in 20 years?

I just thought Lenker wrote two albums' worth of songs, each with its discrete sound and mystery.

they recorded 45 songs across 4 sessions (though "promise is a pendulum" is a demo not from any of those sessions) and have only released 25 of those, they could have put out a quadruple album if they'd really wanted, and were openly considering the idea of putting out a follow-up double album of all the outtakes at one point

"No Reason" feels very Double Infinity to me

"flower of blood" is the only one that feels like a step in the direction of double infinity, mostly for the chorus pedal on the guitar

i would love a whole album of "flower of blood" though

Been playing "All Night All Day" on repeat the last day or so. Great song. And great opening line, as a writer Lenker is good at being horny.

Feels like it's been 10 years
Has it only been two years?
Two years
Feels like forever

Her singing and phrasing on this is so great.

I think "Happy with You" is an official Bad Song.

Only one listen in, but I'm pretty sure I agree with this. I quite like the rest of it, though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMWFazR4Ubs

tour's started so there's a new song

My latest hot take is that this is Heaven Or Las Vegas '25

the songs aren't quite good enough overall for that but the atmosphere is even better

i'm pretty sure they're on the record as fans of cocteau twins though, i'd be shocked if they weren't a major influence here

Between this and the new Sabrina song that bites Rilkean Heart we’re on the cusp of entering a Cocteau Fall

I like this album (except for one song) but comparing it to Heaven or Las Vegas is many bridges too far !

Oh god yeah I'm talking atmos/vibe/execution as opposed to a direct qualitative comparison

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYnAQ5xYgPQ

new version of an old unreleased song ("last time", previously known as "geese")

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9zbg7aMXcE

and full-band debut of "carry" which sounds a lot like a nick cave ballad? idk if it's a specific song i'm thinking of

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5jdSSf_CsQ

the way they're doing "grandmother" live is halfway between last year's live version and the studio version, so equal parts cocteau twins and crazy horse, which works really well somehow

Saw them last night at Hollywood Bowl, with Laraaji on hand to help them through the majority of the new album. My first time seeing them and it was excellent.

All night All day really really sounds like Bowie's Word On A Wing

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2025-09-25/big-thief-hollywood-bowl-double-infinity

follow-up album confirmed to be complete!

iris dement is on it and i assume greg leisz is likely to be too since they brought him out at the hollywood bowl

this is pretty easily their best since capacity imo

The idea of Iris Dement on a Big Thief song is blowing my mind

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnWRsj_Sh7M

i like "no fear" much more now that they're extending it out to 12 minutes

Thinking about how directly Big Thief connects to some strands of '90s indie — not so much alt-country, although there's some of that, but more the Palace Brothers/Drag City end.

Yeah I think I said on the Dragon New Warm Mountain thread that there are songs on that album that remind me specifically of Palace’s Hope EP

The idea of Iris Dement on a Big Thief song is blowing my mind

― erasingclouds, Wednesday, October 1, 2025 9:15 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

!!!

No one mentioning the CD booklet lyrics? Like watching a horror movie, where the screen is dark and you have no idea what's happening. Maybe I'm too old and my eyes don't register ultraviolet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RhWupp8fBE

"grandmother" on fallon with the extended lineup