Big Thief

Origin Brooklyn, New York, U.S. Genres Indie folk folk rock indie rock Americana alt-country Years active 2015–present Big Thief is an American indie folk band formed in Brooklyn, New York, in 2015. The lineup comprises vocalist-guitarist Adrianne Lenker, guitarist Buck Meek and drummer James Krivchenia.[1] Founding bassist Max Oleartchik left the band in 2024. Big Thief's debut album, Masterpiece, was released on Saddle Creek Records in 2016. Their second studio album, Capacity, was released in 2017. In 2019, the band signed to 4AD and released two studio albums: U.F.O.F. in May 2019 and Two Hands in October 2019. Both albums received critical acclaim; U.F.O.F. was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards, and the song "Not", was nominated for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards. The band's fifth studio album, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You, was released in February 2022. A double album, it reached the top ten in the Netherlands and was also nominated for Best Alternative Music Album at the 2023 Grammys, while its second single "Certainty" was nominated for Best Alternative Music Performance. After nine years within the band, Max Oleartchik departed in June 2024, with the band citing "interpersonal reasons" for the departure History 2013–2015: Early years Adrianne Lenker met Buck Meek at a show in Boston, and after meeting him again in Brooklyn as undergraduates, the pair began performing as a duo.[3][4] They toured as a duo in 2013, and released two EPs, a-sides and b-sides, in 2014. In 2015, after performing for two years and developing a small grassroots following, they began looking for additional members to accompany them, and formed the band Big Thief with the arrival of Max Oleartchik, a bassist and longtime friend of Meek's. James Krivchenia joined the band later, originally as a sound engineer and then as a drummer.[4][3] All four members of Big Thief attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.[5] 2016–2018: Masterpiece and Capacity The band's debut studio album, Masterpiece was released on Saddle Creek Records on May 27, 2016.[6] It received generally favorable reviews from critics; it has a rating of 79/100 on Metacritic.[7] Bob Boilen from NPR wrote that Big Thief was "a band bound by great songs," and called the title track of Masterpiece "one of the best songs I've heard this year."[8] Jillian Mapes, writing for Pitchfork Media, gave Masterpiece a rating of 7.7 out of 10 saying the songs on the album "sound cherry-picked over a lifetime of writing".[9] Robert Christgau described the album's songs as being "fragile, noisy images of a love perpetually out of reach".[10] Ben Salmon wrote in the Portland Mercury that on the album Big Thief "alternately sounds like an unearthed field recording ("Little Arrow"), a pop band with a broken heart's pulse ("Vegas"), and a classic, buzzy indie-rock outfit ("Interstate")."[1] On April 4, 2017, Big Thief premiered a new single "Mythological Beauty" on NPR.[11] The next day the band released the single's official video and confirmed that the song would appear on their second studio album, Capacity. The full album was released on June 9 via Saddle Creek.[12] Capacity received critical acclaim upon its release. On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from music critics, the album received an average score of 81 indicating "universal acclaim" based on 15 reviews.[13] Capacity appeared on multiple album-of-the-year lists, including #1 on NPR's "Bob Boilen's Top Ten Album's of 2017".[14] Boilen said, "I don't recall the last time I had the same band in my top five albums for two years in a row. But this year's Capacity (my No. 1 album) and last year's Masterpiece (my No. 4 album) did just that." Spin named Capacity #2 on their "50 Best Albums of 2017", citing the band's "open engagement with anguish in their bracing songs."[15] The song "Mary" appeared on Pitchfork's 200 Best Songs of the 2010s list, at #44.[16] 2019–2020: U.F.O.F. and Two Hands U.F.O.F., the band's third studio album, was announced on February 26, 2019. The album was recorded at Bear Creek Studio in Woodinville, Washington. On the same day they released the album's first single, its title track, "U.F.O.F.",[17][18] and announced a new tour across America and in Europe. The band released two more singles, "Cattails" and "Century" ahead of the album release on May 3, 2019. U.F.O.F. received critical acclaim upon its release. It was called "Best New Music" by Pitchfork, scoring a 9.2[19] and came in at #33 on Pitchfork's 200 Best Albums of the 2010s list.[20] At Metacritic the album received an average score of 87/100.[21] In the first album's release week U.F.O.F. reached the top of Billboard charts, including the #1 position on Alternative New Artist Albums, Americana/Folk Albums, Top New Artist Albums, #2 placement for LP Vinyl Albums, #6 placement for Current Alternative Albums, #8 placement for Current Rock Albums, and #142 for Billboard Top 200 Albums.[22] The band also had 3 sold out album release shows, one the night before the album release in LA at The Fonda Theatre on May 2, another in LA on May 3 at The Bootleg Theater,[23] and a third night in Brooklyn, NY, at Elsewhere on May 5, 2019. U.F.O.F. was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards.[24] Big Thief released their fourth studio album, Two Hands on October 11, 2019. The album was recorded at Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, Texas, shortly after the recording of U.F.O.F. and is billed as its "Earth twin".[25][26] The album's lead single "Not" was nominated for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards.[27] 2021–2024: Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You and Oleartchik's departure On August 10, 2021, the band released the songs "Little Things" and "Sparrow", both which were produced by Big Thief drummer James Krivchenia.[28] "Little Things" was recorded with Shawn Everett at Five Star Studios in Topanga, California, in October 2020. "Sparrow" was recorded with Sam Evian at Flying Cloud Recordings in the Catskills, New York, in July and August 2020.[29] On September 7, 2021, the band released the song "Certainty"[30] followed by another song, "Change", on October 6. They also announced plans for a North American tour in 2022.[31] In the November 2021 issue of Mojo, Big Thief announced their plans to release a 20-track double album in early 2022. The album was recorded in four different locations across the United States after the band quarantined in the Vermont woods for two weeks in July 2020.[32][33] Later that month the band confirmed the album's title Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You and a February 11, 2022, release date.[34] In June 2022, the band announced two concert dates in Oleartchik's hometown of Tel Aviv, Israel, for July 6 and 7 of the same year.[35] However, the announcement received backlash with criticism pertaining to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.[36] The band first released a statement defending their decision to perform in Israel,[37] then eventually retracted their previous statement and canceled the concert dates.[38] The cancellation was received with opposite backlash from the concert venue.[39] The band previously performed at the venue in 2017.[37] At the 65th Annual Grammy Awards, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album and "Certainty" was nominated for Best Alternative Music Performance.[40] In July 2023, the band released the single "Vampire Empire",[41] which they had debuted in a live performance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert earlier in February of the same year.[42] In October 2023, "Vampire Empire" was released as a 7" single, with the song "Born for Loving You" as a B-side.[43] On July 11, 2024, the band announced the departure of bassist Max Oleartchik, a decision which according to the band was made for "interpersonal reasons with mutual respect in our hearts".[2] On July 28, the band performed their first show in nearly a year at Project Pabst in Portland, where they debuted a five-piece lineup featuring a second percussionist, Jon Nellen, and a new bass guitarist, Justin Felton. The setlist included 14 songs, 10 of which were live debuts. On August 27, 2024, it was announced that Big Thief served as producers and backing band for singer-songwriter Tucker Zimmerman's 15th studio album, Dance of Love.[47][48] The band had previously appeared on stage with Zimmerman.[47] 2025–present: Double Infinity On June 3, 2025, Big Thief announced their sixth studio album, Double Infinity, and released the first single "Incomprehensible". The album is set to be released through 4AD on September 5, 2025. 中文介绍 Big Thief是一支美国独立民谣乐队，2015 年成立于纽约布鲁克林。乐队成员包括Adrianne Lenker（主唱、吉他）、Buck Meek（吉他、伴唱）和James Krivchenia（鼓）。[ 1 ] 2015 年至 2024 年间，乐队还吸纳了长期担任贝斯手的 Max Oleartchik。 乐队的首张专辑《Masterpiece 》于 2016 年由Saddle Creek Records发行。他们的第二张录音室专辑《 Capacity》于 2017 年发行。2019 年，乐队签约4AD并发行了两张录音室专辑：2019 年 5 月的《UFOF》和 2019 年 10 月的《Two Hands》。两张专辑均获得好评；《UFOF》获得第 62 届格莱美奖最佳另类音乐专辑提名，歌曲《 Not 》获得第63 届格莱美奖最佳摇滚歌曲和最佳摇滚表演提名。 乐队的第五张录音室专辑《龙新暖山我相信你》于 2022 年 2 月发行。这张双专辑在荷兰进入前十名，还获得了2023 年格莱美奖最佳另类音乐专辑提名，而其第二首单曲《Certainty》获得了最佳另类音乐表演提名。在乐队工作了九年后，Max Oleartchik 于 2024 年 6 月离开，乐队以“人际关系原因”为由离开。 2013–2015：早期 Adrianne Lenker在波士顿的一场演出中遇到了Buck Meek，在布鲁克林再次见到他时，两人还是本科生，于是开始以二人组的形式演出。[ 3 ] [ 4 ] 2013 年，他们以二人组的形式巡回演出，并于 2014 年发行了两张 EP，a-side和b-side。2015年，在演出两年并发展了一小群草根追随者之后，他们开始寻找更多成员来陪伴他们，并在 Meek 的老朋友贝斯手 Max Oleartchik 的加入下组建了乐队 Big Thief。James Krivchenia后来加入了乐队，最初是一名音响工程师，后来担任鼓手。[ 4 ] [ 3 ] Big Thief 的所有四名成员都就读于马萨诸塞州波士顿的伯克利音乐学院。[ 5 ] 2016–2018：杰作与容量 2017 年 6 月，Big Thief 在纽约金斯顿 BSP 演出 2016 年 5 月 27 日，乐队的首张录音室专辑《Masterpiece》由Saddle Creek Records发行。[ 6 ]该专辑获得了评论家的普遍好评，在Metacritic上的评分为 79/100 。[ 7 ] 美国国家公共电台的Bob Boilen写道，Big Thief 是“一支被伟大歌曲所束缚的乐队”，并称《Masterpiece 》的主打歌是“我今年听过的最好的歌曲之一”。[ 8 ] Pitchfork Media的 Jillian Mapes给《Masterpiece》打了7.7 分（满分 10 分），称专辑中的歌曲“听起来像是经过一生的精心挑选”。[ 9 ] Robert Christgau将这张专辑的歌曲描述为“脆弱、嘈杂的画面，描绘着永远遥不可及的爱情”。[ 10 ]本·萨尔蒙（Ben Salmon）在《波特兰水星报》中写道，专辑《大盗》“听起来时而像一首发掘出来的田野录音（《小箭》），时而像一支心碎的流行乐队（《维加斯》），时而像一支经典、热闹的独立摇滚乐队（《州际》）。” [ 1 ] 2017 年 4 月 4 日，Big Thief 在 NPR 首发了新单曲“Mythological Beauty”。[ 11 ]第二天，乐队发布了这首单曲的官方视频，并确认这首歌将收录在他们的第二张录音室专辑《Capacity 》中。整张专辑于 6 月 9 日通过 Saddle Creek 发行。[ 12 ] 《Capacity》一经发布便广受好评。在 Metacritic（为音乐评论家的评论分配 100 分的标准化评分）上，这张专辑根据 15 条评论获得了 81 分的平均分，表明“普遍好评”。 [ 13 ] 《Capacity》出现在多个年度最佳专辑榜单上，包括 NPR 的“鲍勃·博伊伦2017 年十大专辑”榜单上的第一名。[ 14 ]博伊伦说：“我不记得上一次我的前五张专辑中连续两年都有同一支乐队。但今年的《Capacity》（我的第一张专辑）和去年的《Masterpiece 》 （我第四张专辑）做到了。” Spin将《Capacity 》列为“2017 年 50 张最佳专辑”的第二名，称该乐队“在令人振奋的歌曲中公开表达了对痛苦的感受。” [ 15 ]歌曲《Mary》出现在Pitchfork的2010 年代 200 首最佳歌曲榜单上，排名第 44 位。[ 16 ] 2019–2020：UFOF和Two Hands 乐队的第三张录音室专辑《UFOF》于 2019 年 2 月 26 日发布。该专辑在华盛顿州伍丁维尔的 Bear Creek Studio 录制。同一天，他们发行了专辑的第一首单曲、同名曲“UFOF” [ 17 ] [ 18 ]，并宣布将在美国和欧洲进行新巡演。乐队在 2019 年 5 月 3 日发行专辑之前发行了另外两首单曲“Cattails”和“Century”。UFOF 一经发布便获得了评论界的一致好评。它被Pitchfork称为“最佳新音乐”，得分为 9.2 [ 19 ] ，并在Pitchfork的2010 年代 200 张最佳专辑榜单中排名第 33 位。 [ 20 ]在Metacritic上，这张专辑的平均得分为 87/100。 [ 21 ]在专辑发行的第一周， UFOF就登上了Billboard排行榜的榜首，包括另类新人专辑、美国民谣/民谣专辑、顶级新人专辑的第一名、LP 黑胶唱片的第二名、当前另类专辑的第 6 名、当前摇滚专辑的第 8 名，以及Billboard前 200 名专辑的第 142 名。 [ 22 ]该乐队还举办了三场门票销售一空的专辑发行演出，一场是在专辑发行前一天晚上于 5 月 2 日在洛杉矶的The Fonda Theatre举行的，另一场是 5 月 3 日在洛杉矶的 The Bootleg Theater 举行的， [ 23 ]第三场演出于 2019 年 5 月 5 日晚上在纽约布鲁克林的 Elsewhere 举行。 《UFOF》获第62 届格莱美奖最佳另类音乐专辑提名。[ 24 ] 《UFOF》获第 62 届格莱美奖最佳另类音乐专辑提名。 [ 24 ] 2019 年 10 月 11 日，Big Thief 发行了他们的第四张录音室专辑《Two Hands》 。这张专辑是在UFOF录制后不久，在德克萨斯州托尼洛的Sonic Ranch录制的，被称为其“地球双胞胎”。[ 25 ] [ 26 ]专辑的主打单曲《Not》获得了第63 届格莱美奖最佳摇滚歌曲和最佳摇滚表演提名。[ 27 ] 2021 年至今：《龙新暖山我相信你》和 Oleartchik 的离开 2021 年 8 月 10 日，乐队发行了歌曲《Little Things》和《Sparrow》，这两首歌均由 Big Thief 鼓手 James Krivchenia 制作。[ 28 ]《Little Things》于 2020 年 10 月与Shawn Everett在加利福尼亚州托潘加的 Five Star Studios录制。《Sparrow》于 2020 年 7 月和 8 月与Sam Evian在纽约卡茨基尔的 Flying Cloud Recordings录制。 [ 29 ] 2021 年 9 月 7 日，乐队发布了歌曲“Certainty” [ 30 ]，随后于 10 月 6 日发布了另一首歌曲“Change”。他们还宣布了 2022 年北美巡演的计划。[ 31 ]在 2021 年 11 月的Mojo杂志中，Big Thief 宣布他们计划在 2022 年初发行一张包含 20 首曲目的双专辑。乐队于 2020 年 7 月在佛蒙特州森林隔离两周后，这张专辑在美国四个不同地点录制。[ 32 ] [ 33 ]当月晚些时候，乐队确认了专辑名称Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You和发行日期 2022 年 2 月 11 日。[ 34 ] 2022 年 6 月，该乐队宣布将于同年 7 月 6 日和 7 日在 Oleartchik 的家乡以色列特拉维夫举办两场音乐会。 [ 35 ]然而，该声明因巴以冲突而遭到批评。[ 36 ]该乐队首先发表声明为其在以色列演出的决定辩护，[ 37 ]随后最终撤回了之前的声明并取消了音乐会日期。[ 38 ]取消演出遭到了音乐会场地的强烈反对。[ 39 ]该乐队之前曾于 2017 年在该场地演出过。[ 37 ] 在第65届格莱美奖颁奖典礼上，《龙新暖山我相信你》获得最佳另类音乐专辑提名，《确定性》获得最佳另类音乐表演提名。[ 40 ] 2023 年 7 月，乐队发行了单曲《吸血鬼帝国》，[ 41 ]这首歌是他们于同年 2 月在《斯蒂芬·科尔伯特深夜秀》的现场表演中首次亮相的。 [ 42 ] 2023 年 10 月，《吸血鬼帝国》以 7 英寸单曲形式发行，歌曲《Born for Loving You》为 B 面。[ 43 ] 2024 年 7 月 11 日，乐队宣布贝斯手 Max Oleartchik 离职，据乐队称，这一决定是出于“人际原因，我们心中相互尊重”。[ 2 ] 7 月 28 日，乐队在波特兰的 Project Pabst 举行了近一年来的首场演出，他们首次以五人阵容亮相，其中包括第二位打击乐手 Jon Nellen 和一位新贝斯手 Justin Felton。演出曲目包括 14 首歌曲，其中 10 首是现场首演。[ 44 ] [ 45 ] [ 46 ] 2024 年 8 月 27 日，据宣布 Big Thief 担任创作歌手塔克·齐默尔曼第 15 张录音室专辑《爱之舞》的制作人和伴奏乐队。[ 47 ] [ 48 ]该乐队此前曾与齐默尔曼同台演出。[ 47 ] 音乐风格 Pitchfork称 Big Thief 为“粗犷的”民谣 摇滚。[ 49 ] AllMusic称 Big Thief 的风格为“带有民谣色彩的独立摇滚” ，并指出主唱阿德里安娜·兰克 (Adrianne Lenker)的“个人歌曲创作”是其特色。[ 50 ] 乐队成员 现有成员 Adrianne Lenker – 主唱、吉他（2015 年至今） Adrianne Lenker – 主唱、吉他（2015 年至今） 巴克·米克– 吉他、伴唱（2015 年至今） 巴克·米克– 吉他、伴唱（2015 年至今） 詹姆斯·克里夫切尼亚 (James Krivchenia) – 鼓、伴唱、打击乐、合成器（2016 年至今） 詹姆斯·克里夫切尼亚 (James Krivchenia) – 鼓、伴唱、打击乐、合成器（2016 年至今） 巡演成员 贾斯汀·费尔顿 – 贝斯（2024 年至今） 乔恩·内伦 – 额外鼓手（2024 年至今） 前成员 杰森·伯格 – 鼓(2015–2016) [ 51 ] Max Oleartchik – 贝斯、低音提琴、伴唱（2015–2024）