Big Thief is seemingly always cooking something up. They released two albums in 2019, but took a break last year—though we got two LPs from bandleader Adrianne Lenker in 2020 and a record from guitarist Buck Meek this year. Now, after two years of no new Big Thief, the band is back. They’ve announced the release of double LP Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You, out on February 11 via 4AD.
After spending time in isolation throughout the past year, the band reunited to record the album in four locations that fit the group’s love for nature and folk sound: upstate New York, Topanga Canyon, The Rocky Mountains, and Tucson, Arizona.
And yes, the album title does sound like something our sister publication The Onion would publish a satirical post about the band, but the title actually comes from Max Oleartchik’s explanation to his mom about what being back with the band felt like.
In a press release, he says he recalls telling her that “it’s like, we’re a band, we talk, we have different dynamics, we do the breaths, and then we go on stage and suddenly it feels like we are now on a dragon. And we can’t really talk because we have to steer this dragon.”
The band previously released two singles from the forthcoming record, “Little Things” and “Sparrow,” but hadn’t confirmed they would appear on this album until now. They also shared a new single with the announcement, titled “Time Escaping.”
The track carries a jubilant melody, that takes influence from the picturesque backdrops the album was written in, as Lenker sings, “Only the winter wind survives/After the heat rush feeds and thrives/After the bushfire burns and dies/Frozen and bitter.”
Big Thief’s recordings often feel intimate, but this track includes an accidental line that takes listeners into the room where they’re recording. At one point, Lenker exclaims, “It’s music!” to explain to her puppy Oso what was going on.