Masterpiece

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 thoughts, opening thoughts… uhhh… give me a sec *papers ruffling* I swear I had them here somewhere… ah-hah! There they are! Now let’s see here…

“Masterpiece” is not what I was expecting it to be from when I heard the song “Velvet Ring” off of my Spotify recommended. That song is cold, mysterious, and soothing all at the same time. Possibly my favourite out of the bunch. What was actually delivered was pretty much a bonafide indie rock project.

No complaints about that though, because I love indie rock. In fact, it’s one of my favourite genres!

The album opens softly with “Little Arrow.” The audio quality is rough but it’s cute nonetheless. Then what comes after is the title track, which bangs so hard. When this song blasted on after that opener I was completely blown away. Like, what the hell?! I thought I was getting some folksy stuff, not some of this indie rock stuff the kids are playing! But somehow, Big Thief manages to pull off this sound and keep your attention held tight like you wouldn’t believe it. Tracks like “Interstate”, “Humans”, “Randy”, and “Parallels” all scratch that indie itch. And slower tracks like “Paul”, “Lorraine”, and “Randy” are great little breathers in between. It’s well-rounded, which makes it nice and consistent.

Although, I will say that this project is not the masterpiece that the band promises. Some songs can be disjointed, like “Real Love” and “Animals”. The former I wish I liked more, but it just goes a bit too long, and kind of flops between an indie rock cut, and a slower cut, and it doesn’t work that well in my opinion. The latter is disjointed in another way, mainly instrumentally. Its riffs are kind of goofy and it doesn’t stick with the drums and vocals.

Okay, closing thoughts now… what? What do you mean you’ve lost them?! Ugh, I’ll just have to wing it.

Overall, it was pretty good! Solid from, uh, front to back…a few duds, from what I remember… uhm… yeah, not much else to say. I’m looking forward to the next one!

Okay, how did I do? Good? Great! Let me edit it now…

[END OF FOOTAGE]

Fav track: Velvet Ring
Least fav: Animals / Real Love