Big Thief

The folk-tinged indie rock of Brooklyn's Big Thief is shaped by the very personal songwriting of singer/guitarist Adrianne Lenker.

She began releasing solo material as a teen in the mid-2000s before partnering with eventual bandmate Buck Meek on a pair of duo EPs in 2014. After forming the four-piece Big Thief with James Krivchenia and Jason Burger, they released their first album, Masterpiece, in 2016. The following year's Capacity marked their debut on several charts, including the Independent Albums and Americana/Folk charts. In between Lenker's solo albums, 2019 brought two Billboard 200-charting Big Thief LPs; U.F.O.F. and Two Hands earned considerable praise in year-end polls, plus a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Album (for U.F.O.F.). An ambitious double LP, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You, followed in 2022.

The quartet's first album, Masterpiece, followed on Saddle Creek in 2016, a year that also saw them make appearances at South by Southwest Festival and in support slots on tours with Eleanor Friedberger, Yuck, Frankie Cosmos, and M. Ward. They made their national TV debut with a performance on Late Night with Seth Meyers in March 2017. Big Thief's second album, Capacity, arrived that June and reached the Top 20 of the Billboard Heatseekers, independent, Americana/folk, and vinyl charts.

Their third straight album with producer Andrew Sarlo, the more exploratory U.F.O.F., marked the band's debut for 4AD in May 2019. They spent much of the rest of the year touring North America and Europe, including stops at Norway's Oya Festival and the U.K.'s Green Man Festival before issuing their fourth album, Two Hands. Recorded just days after their sessions for U.F.O.F., the group headed to the remote Sonic Ranch Studios in Texas with Sarlo to lay down the tracks. As the year came to a close, Big Thief received a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Music Album for U.F.O.F.

With production by Krivchenia, who had contributed additional production to their debut, the sprawling double album "Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You" was recorded in four different locations: California's Topanga Canyon, Tuscan, the Colorado Rockies, and the Catskills.