It’s an almost astonishingly good collection of alt rock and folk songs made even better by the faultless storytelling and completely believable level of emotionality. Love is a struggle, but falling head over heels for Masterpiece isn’t.
What makes Masterpiece such an engrossing listen is how they regulate the songs to their bare essentials even when they’re at their most dynamic. Big Thief is a band that understands that there’s much to explore within life’s empty spaces, to never underestimate what’s not readily there and occupy it with grand, though modest, gestures.
Masterpiece may be flawed, but try to think of a magnum opus, or a life, that isn't. The most exciting part is that it's likely Big Thief's best is yet to come.
Masterpiece – boldly titled but not wholly without cause – spins in territory between nonchalant and pungent
On the rangy folk-rock band Big Thief's Saddle Creek debut Masterpiece, the songs sound cherry-picked over a lifetime of writing, the stories carefully compiled.
Romantic mystery from Brooklyn indie four-piece.
(Analbumaday Day 214)
‘Big Thief’ is true, they stole 37 minutes of my life! I just listened to two 2 hour long albums and the most I was interested listening to this was about the least interested I was listening to either of those albums. Having a song that’s my name and having a budgie on the cover doesn’t mean I’ll enjoy it! Nah, I’m making it sound worse than it is, this is good, but definitely not my music taste at all. For a debut album, it’s ... read more
Big Thief Discog Dive 1/5
This one has been a long time coming. Big Thief!
I’ve been meaning to do a discog dive of this band ever since their latest album “Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You” (try saying that five times fast god damn) came out last year. Besides, their catalog isn’t too deep with only 5 full-length projects under their belt, so it should be fun to see their growth from beginning to present.
Anyway, what was I talking about? Oh yeah, opening ... read more
Adrianne Lenker/Big Thief (2/9)
This is the second installment in my Big Thief and Adrianne Lenker review series, check out the first one (for “Hours Were The Birds”) if you can! Thanks!
Disappointment is a weird word to use when talking about a debut. It’s kind of a weird word to use in general with music, because theoretically if I was a perfect music reviewer I would have no expectations or premonitions about anything I listen to, so I would never feel like something ... read more
very enjoyable listen. with amazing instrumentation and gorgeous vocal inflections, this has HUGE potential to evolve into one of my favorite albums of all time. i'm not that big of a fan of DNWMIBIY and am surprised that this is rated lower, but hey. it's still a good album and i would highly recommend anyone listen
1 | Little Arrow 1:58 | 75 |
2 | Masterpiece 3:50 | 92 |
3 | Vegas 2:19 | 87 |
4 | Real Love 4:17 | 90 |
5 | Interstate 3:24 | 85 |
6 | Lorraine 1:53 | 81 |
7 | Paul 3:03 | 91 |
8 | Humans 3:23 | 84 |
9 | Velvet Ring 2:35 | 84 |
10 | Animals 2:59 | 82 |
11 | Randy 3:09 | 81 |
12 | Parallels 4:23 | 87 |
#2 | / | The Wild Honey Pie |
#8 | / | Newsweek |
#31 | / | NPR Music |
#35 | / | Earbuddy |
#43 | / | For The Win |