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\n Double Infinity is out September 5; the Somersault Slide 360 Tour starts September 17.\n <\/p>\n
\n Left to right: James Krivchenia, Adrianne Lenker, Buck Meek.
\n Photo: Alexa Viscius\n <\/p>\n
For more than a decade, Brooklyn- by-way-of-everywhere trio Big Thief<\/a> have put out cosmic indie-rock albums to near-universal acclaim. Live, the band departs unexpectedly from the studio script, and performances of the same songs can turn out very different on a given night. During a ten- minute performance of \u201cNot\u201d at the Netherlands festival Best Kept Secret in 2022, singer-guitarist Adrianne Lenker forgets the lyrics early on, and drummer James Krivchenia begins to chant the missing words like a mantra. The verse resumes, and the band soldiers on, Lenker\u2019s perseverant guitar solo howling with the weary relief of a shipwrecked sailor spotting land. It\u2019s these precarious expeditions, where no one fully knows what will happen next, that drive this outfit creatively, they tell me over two recent conversations. \u201cI don\u2019t want to make records to keep a business going,\u201d says Lenker. \u201cI waited tables for ten years and enjoyed it, and I\u2019d go back before I\u2019d force a record.\u201d<\/p>\n The band\u2019s motivations have sparked intense debate lately. Since the unexpected 2023 TikTok virality of \u201cVampire Empire,\u201d some fans have wondered if the sunny acoustics of recent singles<\/a> are a ploy to replicate that success. And then there\u2019s the matter of one bandmate\u2019s departure. Big Thief drew harsh criticism<\/a> from pro-Palestine groups and fans in 2022 for announcing two shows in Tel Aviv, home of longtime bassist Max Oleartchik, which they subsequently canceled<\/a>, expressing opposition to \u201cthe illegal occupation and the systematic oppression of the Palestinian people.\u201d Two years later, when Oleartchik left the band, many assumed<\/a> that the trio had wanted to cut ties with him over his past IDF service and his presumed indifference to or support for the current war crimes in Gaza. \u201cBDS win (Big Thief divested from their Israeli member)\u201d became the most-favorited quote-tweet<\/a> on the band\u2019s post about his departure. This positioned Oleartchik, who could not be reached for comment, as an ideological foil to Lenker, who donated proceeds from last spring\u2019s I Won\u2019t Let Go of Your Hand solo EP to the Palestinian Children\u2019s Relief Fund. But the speculation doesn\u2019t align with the pro-cease-fire and anti-occupation statements currently on Oleartchik\u2019s private Instagram page or with how the band tells the story.<\/p>\n Big Thief is not as active online as its supporters; in fact, its members seem philosophically and occasionally comically unplugged from many of the conversations circling them. For Double Infinity, their sixth album, the three remaining members \u2014 Lenker, Krivchenia, and singer-guitarist Buck Meek \u2014 paused their solo and session work to reunite in New York. The trio regrouped with nearly a dozen other musicians in the studio, fixating on improvisation. Big Thief hopes that time and restless evolution spell out what they\u2019re really about.<\/p>\n I think the bustle of New York informs this album just as much as the more rustic locations you\u2019ve recorded in are said to exert a country-rock influence on you. Why did Double Infinity happen where it did? Adrianne Lenker: I want to make you dance while at the same time talking about heavy stuff. Maybe you could even be cry-dancing.<\/p>\n I\u2019m curious what fans of a punchier Big Thief will make of electric guitars not being in the driver\u2019s seat. BM: Going into the session, we wanted constant liquid sonic elements. We were drawn to Laraaji\u2019s organic droning on zither. He brought an iPad with wild flute and violin patches. Our friend, the great New York musician Mikey Bushes, sampled things, making a loop with ten feet of tape around a mic stand.<\/p>\n James Krivchenia: We didn\u2019t not order a six-foot Enya poster.<\/p>\n Last summer, you embarked on your first tour with a new lineup, unbeknownst to fans previewing most of the album. How\u2019d it feel? Fans have gotten territorial about these arrangements. How did it feel as a band that plays a song dozens of times in recording and touring to see people lash out when the studio version<\/a> of \u201cVampire Empire\u201d didn\u2019t re-create everything in the demo that went viral<\/a>? But there are people who do assume you\u2019re careerists and think the singles are streamlined to plug into viral notoriety. JK: I can safely say I don\u2019t know what TikTok looks like. Never even been shown it.<\/p>\n BM: People have parasocial relationships and get hung up. We\u2019re most excited when approaching the process shedding whatever dogma or method we had in the past. For us, trying to replicate something is usually futile. If we play a song one way in the studio and it goes well, and we try to repeat it onstage, it usually feels empty. Moments of discovery happen when we let the music be what it wants. The first \u201cVampire Empire\u201d recording \u2014 we\u2019d never played it like that before. Maybe that\u2019s why people love it. Next time we do it, maybe it\u2019ll be a very different trip. I hope that with time and iteration, people understand this.<\/p>\n AL: If you love a live one recorded on someone\u2019s phone, it\u2019s cool. Just listen to that.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve read that Tyler Childers hasn\u2019t been playing his new songs live until they\u2019re released, so we don\u2019t have an ideal sound to hold against the studio recording. JK: There\u2019s a scarcity mind-set in withholding a song. Doesn\u2019t compute to me.<\/p>\n BM: Some people come to a show, and you can see expectations not being met and how they slowly start to accept. Younger kids who fell in love with one song on TikTok. You can see the ideas built from that world melt. Sometimes they fall in love with it in a new way.<\/p>\n AL: I might be angry one night and let it flow through me and scream and go a whole tour without feeling like it\u2019s natural to do it again. The second I\u2019m thinking, They like when I get angry, so I\u2019m gonna do it every night, I lose the realness of it. That\u2019s what I want people to know. It becomes an act when you try the same thing over and over.<\/p>\n The response to last year\u2019s announcement that you parted ways with Max was riddled with overjoyed quote-tweets suggesting the band had just gotten rid of a Zionist. Many quickly assumed Big Thief was strategically trying to ditch a direct connection to Israel. Did you feel Max was mischaracterized? AL: It\u2019s strange how much time and energy went into characterizing someone they never met, knew nothing about. Don\u2019t you have better things to put your energy into? I felt nauseated by the whole thing. Max is a person and was our bandmate for ten years. He\u2019s our friend. Relationships are complicated. To have these other voices saying, \u201cIt\u2019s this\u201d \u2014 you have to turn them off. Responding is only going to make it worse. I\u202fhad to turn off people\u2019s assumptions and meanness based in no truth.<\/p>\n Double Infinity is full of threes. It\u2019s 3:33 a.m. in \u201cLos Angeles.<\/a>\u201d Adrianne talks about turning 33<\/a>. Are you sticking with the trio-and-friends setup? AL: We gel. Nothing can replace Max. There\u2019ll never be anything like that again, like what we were. Sorry for so much romantic-partnership metaphor: We took a year alone and then started dating. We went on tour with Jon and Justin, and we made this record with Joshua. It\u2019s effortless. It\u2019s like there\u2019s DNA coded into these songs, and he just sees it.<\/p>\n BM: He grew up playing jazz with his father, a beautiful sax player, went to Juilliard, and toured the world. His private instructor is Ron Carter to this day. Before hiring him, we asked for a bass part for a song.<\/p>\n AL: It was \u201cDouble Infinity.\u201d<\/p>\n BM: He sent this beautiful solo rendition: the simplest possible thing, but there was so much space and intuition and depth in it.<\/p>\n There are always very different solo endeavors percolating in this crew. Is there a logic sorting out what song or idea goes where?
Buck Meek: We transitioned out of a relationship with our bass player of ten years and tried to make this album as a trio at our own little studio, called Double Infinity, in forest isolation, as we always have. But we felt stuck in the echo chamber of our thoughts. So we went to the opposite extreme \u2014 back to Manhattan where we started \u2014 to surround ourselves with community, old friends from Brooklyn, and new friends and heroes. We needed to be in community and in the midst of the city to have that stimulus. Originally we\u2019d envisioned this fucking hardcore thing with lots of screaming. Double Infinity was a working concept for years. The songs emerged as whatever else they are, and we let them.<\/p>\n
AL: That\u2019s just what happens playing with 11 people in the studio. Everything has to be smaller to fit into a mix. Me and Buck\u2019s guitars are normally at the forefront but became part of the texture of everything since there were so many sounds.<\/p>\n
JK: It had a lot of feelings wrapped up in it. It was the first time we played without Max. There was also excitement playing with bassist Justin Felton and percussionist Jon Nellen. I\u2019m really looking forward to this next one, where we have more time to prep. We always play new stuff. There\u2019s lots of versions of things that only ever exist for one tour or that we forget about. That\u2019s one of my favorite things about us as a live band: I know it\u2019s gonna be great, but I don\u2019t know how we\u2019ll get there.<\/p>\n
AL: It\u2019s not really our business. Not identifying with fluctuations of recognition or success keeps me grounded. I try to center myself and not what people are saying. I\u2019m fortunate and blessed that I\u2019ve felt enough fulfillment since our early days not to want anything other than to make music. I crave connection to the eternal and a higher power: God or our deepest self or each other. I don\u2019t want to put out music if we don\u2019t have anything to say. I don\u2019t want to be in a band just about aesthetics. Not that there\u2019s anything wrong with it. I want to bring people together in our deepest heart space. I don\u2019t want to be a businessperson.<\/p>\n
AL: Oh God. That\u2019s funny. I just released a live album that\u2019s super\u2013ramshackle, using a handheld tape recorder. To me, our record is doing the opposite of streamlining. We got together in a room and jammed. Is that moneymaking? If it\u2019s highly arranged, polished, poppy-sounding, high-def vocals, I\u2019m more likely to think, Are they going mainstream? I play Double Infinity, and I hear a wild, maximal collage.<\/p>\n
AL: I\u2019ve had the thought. If I play a song, it exists everywhere. My grandfather is a big fan. When he says he loves a new one, I think he means a song that\u2019s new only to him, but it\u2019ll be something I played for the first time days ago. \u201cI follow you on YouTube.\u201d Everything we play live, people hear. You can\u2019t do it under the radar. I don\u2019t know what to make of it.<\/p>\n
AL: Oh man. No, it\u2019s purely personal. Of course, it\u2019s unfortunate, the timing. But Max and us broke up for a plethora of reasons that are interpersonal, same as if you\u2019re in a relationship and you can\u2019t do it anymore. It\u2019s just so not about that. We knew what it would be about to everyone else. Sure, there were challenges with him living in Israel, born and raised, having a different upbringing and perspective and proximity to things. We worked through it and talked about it together. We put so much time into lovingly talking. That wasn\u2019t the reason for breaking up. Our breakup is because of a friendship. Sometimes it gets toxic for both of you. It\u2019s definitely not politics. Characteristics of the relationship weren\u2019t working for us as people.<\/p>\n
JK: By the time everyone else heard, the three of us had made peace. And I\u202fknew Max would be hated on. We can\u2019t control a nasty, toxic culture. I try to avoid social media. I don\u2019t need people in my head. I knew where our decision came from. We knew. That was enough. People are gonna run with theories. Presenting ourselves in an honest way is all we can do.<\/p>\n
BM: We\u2019re taking it slow. The three of us are the core of the band. But we made this record with Joshua Crumbly. The tours are all going to be as a four-piece with him. The moment we started playing with him, he lifted us up. He\u2019s melodic but holds so much earth, so much root, as a bassist. Incredible spirit.<\/p>\n
AL: I\u2019m actually more into the band than my solo project. I need healthy doses of playing my own music. It\u2019s something I\u2019ve done since I was such a little kid that it feels like home. But I have found that I\u2019m interested in being part of a whole, part of a band. So I tend to bring almost all the songs I write to the Big Thief bucket. Inevitably, there are songs that don\u2019t end up on our records that I love.<\/p>\n