Having released their wonderful U.F.O.F. album earlier this year, Big Thief are continuing in a prolific vein with a surprise follow-up entitled Two Hands . Apparently it’s set for release on 4AD on the 11th of October, after it was accidentally previewed online. Listen to lead single, ‘Not’.
After vinyl pre-order options leaked on JB Hi-Fi’s website, fans started ordering it before it was taken down. The album will act as the sister companion to this year’s U.F.O.F.
The description on the site read:
“30 miles west of El Paso, surrounded by 3,000 acres of pecan orchards and only a stone’s throw from the Mexican border, the band Big Thief (a.k.a. Adrianne Lenker, Buck Meek, Max Oleartchik, and James Krivchenia) set up their instruments as close together as possible to capture their most important collection of songs yet. The band had only just finished work on their 3rd album, U.F.O.F. – “the celestial twin” – days before in a cabin studio in the woods of Washington State. Now it was time to birth U.F.O.F.’s sister album – “the earth twin” – Two Hands.
In sharp contrast to the wet environment of the U.F.O.F. session, the southwestern Sonic Ranch studio was chosen for its vast desert location. The 105-degree weather boiled away any clinging memories of the green trees and wet air of the last session. Two Hands had to be completely different— an album about the Earth and the bones beneath it. The songs were recorded live with almost no overdubs. All but two songs feature entirely live vocal takes, leaving Adrianne’s voice suspended above the mix in dry air, raw and vulnerable as ever. Where U.F.O.F. layered mysterious sounds and effects for levitation, Two Hands grounds itself on dried-out, cracked desert dirt.
With raw power and intimacy, Two Hands folds itself gracefully into Big Thief’s impressive discography. This body of work grows deeper and more inspiring with each new album. While you listen, let your own two hands rest in front of your body with palms facing inward and see what power grows between them.”
Also, last week Big Thief surprised fans who had ordered their U.F.O.F. album off their website received unmarked vinyl copies of two outtakes from the U.F.O.F. sessions, hear one here:
Updated.
