Adrianne Lenker: Queerness Through Folk Music With Big Thief and Solo Work
Music & Arts
By Laurine Payet, Music Journalist
We discovered Big Thief in 2016 with the release of their debut ‘Masterpiece’. The Brooklyn band has since then been part of the leaders of folk and indie rock in the queer community. With four albums released since their debut, including the brand new ‘Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You’, Big Thief conquered their scene. We had the chance to catch their London performance at the start of the month, before seeing frontwoman Adrianne Lenker playing her solo material. Let’s have a look back at their career, their influence and the experience of seeing Big Thief live.
The quartet was founded 2015 by vocalist and guitarist Adrianne Lenker, guitarist Buck Meek, bassist Max Oleartchik and drummer Jason Burger – now replaced by James Krivchenia. Since their debut, Big Thief kept a constant flow of music. While the 2016 album was more of a focus on the traumatic experiences in romantic relationships, the following album went on a different lyrical path. Released in 2017, the sophomore album ‘Capacity’ tackled the topic of family history in a beautiful folk-rock treasure. The record received as much hype as ‘Masterpiece’ from both the industry and the fans. The universal acclaim continued with the two follow-ups ‘U.F.O.F’ and ‘Two Hands’ in 2019 getting scores of 9.2 and 9 from the highly regarded Pitchfork magazine.
“Could I set everything free when I watch you holding her the way you once held me?”
Released in February, ‘Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You’ is the comeback everyone was waiting for and it did not disappoint. With 20 songs, Big Thief did not set any limit to their record. While the previous four albums were intense lyrical compositions, this last LP feels they found the release. They found a way to keep the raw songwriting while showing freeing energy. The quartet feels more coherent than it’s ever been. As if the four of them were an entity, a whole. They complete each other, and find unity through their connection that we can feel while listening to ‘Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You’. The drums embrace the vocals of Lenker while the strings add to it their own touch. They share, switch instruments and add unusual sounds and arrangements but the experimental nature of their sound is actually turned into something that feels familiar and comforting. With the production by drummer Krivchenia, this last album really is the marriage of the four members through music. Recorded in four different cities in America, Big Thief inspired and soaked themselves with each place for this album, from New York to Arizona through California and the Colorado mountains. The title of the record is actually a response to Adrianne’s solo song ‘anything’ in which you can hear “Dragon in the new warm mountain / Didn't you believe in me?”.
At the start of the month, the band sold out London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire four nights in a row. The choice of more shows yet a smaller venue allowed a certain intimacy in the room as if the sound amplification was not even present. Simple lights and minimalist stage let the focus be on the music and the music only and the unity of Big Thief feels even more important while on stage. They share energies and find strength through vulnerability. Big Thief offered a set with songs from all their records, but definitely put a focus on the last piece of work with 7 songs from ‘Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You’ and a surprising heavy version of the title track.
Following the four nights with Big Thief, frontwoman Adrianne Lenker gave a solo performance at EartH theatre in Hackney. In between the band’s projects, Lenker never took a break in songwriting and albums. First with her former husband and bandmate Buck Meek, she released the twin albums ‘a-sides’ and ‘b-sides’ in 2014, followed by ‘abysskiss’ in 2018. It is in 2020 that she came up with the double album ‘songs’ and ‘instrumentals’. Both were written following Lenker’s breakup with singer Indigo Sparke, giving an intimate insight into the artist’s feelings. When the first lockdown was announced, she escaped to a cabin in the woods of Western Massachusetts and started writing the raw and warm masterpiece that is this double album. Her aim was to make a record that sounded like “the inside of an acoustic guitar”, and this is when she turned her cabin into a recording studio. We experience the closeness to Lenker’s voice and instruments, sometimes hearing the pressure of her fingertips on her guitar strings. Truly pure and honest, most of the songs don’t bring nor need any more elements to it.
“Is it a crime to say I still need you?”
In ‘instrumentals’, Lenker comes up with a 21 minutes song called ‘music for indigo’, explicitly written for her ex-lover. The soft sounds of the guitar don’t reflect the failure of her queer love, but it instead feels more like a hopeful state of mind, an ode to their lived experience together. In ‘songs’ we contemplate and celebrate memories and solitude as well as the pain provoked by these feelings. She embraces thoughts we are too often afraid to share. The opening track ‘two reverse’ lets Lenker explore the feeling of dependency on a person already gone, she asks “Lay me down so to let you leave/Tell me lies/Wanna see your eyes/Is it a crime to say I still need you?”.
“I'm not afraid of you now”
No matter the pain, this album is a warmhearted journey through life experiences. Adrianne Lenker welcomes the growth we can undergo and sometimes suffer when sharing our soul with someone, “As we make love make love and you’re on my skin/You are changing me, you are changing.”. Adrianne Lenker is a talented songwriter able to sing about painful life events in front of a full theatre while spreading the positive energy of hopefulness and trust in our journeys through existence.
With her work with Big Thief and on her own, Adrianne Lenker is the proof queerness can also be expressed and represented within the folk scene.
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