Big Thief’s Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You begins “Change like the wind/Like the water, like skin/Change like the sky/Like the leaves, like a butterfly,” a down-to-earth opener that confronts us with mortality and questions if it’s such a bad thing. Adrianne Lenker, Big Thief’s primary songwriter, continues to insert reminders of change and the passage of time, which takes us to the second song. “Time Escaping,” the first left turn on the album, is a rhythmic, psychedelic art rock song, with an experimental composition that makes use of acoustic guitars and metrocards. The theme of change not only bleeds through the lyrics, but also into the sprawling tracklist with the album shifting between steady and grounded songs to celestial songs that evaporate into the air around you.
An Updated Formula
The album continues to zip along with the songs “Spud Infinity” and “Certainty,” both songs akin to previous Big Thief albums, but with a more country and bluegrass infused sound than they had ever utilized. The former features playful lyricism about what makes us, us. The latter is a beautifully crafted love song that also acknowledges the uncertainty of a relationship. “Red Moon,” features maybe my favorite lyrics on the whole album. I love the picture this song is painting when Lenker sings things like “Radio singing from the corner of the kitchen/I got the oven on, I got the onions wishing/They hadn’t made me cry, filling the sink with dishes/Letting them air dry, waiting for the wind’s permission.” Lenker and the gang get rowdy on “Love Love Love,” a bluesy rock song that shows her voice’s versatility in quite the juxtaposition from its usual soft, poetic croons to the yelps and howls she let’s soar over this roadhouse romp.
The Carefully Crafted
“Simulation Swarm” is undoubtedly the standout track from Dragon, Lenker is in rare form on this cut, meticulously employing a lyrical flow and rhyme scheme that dances on top of the pristinely produced instrumental of her repetitive acoustic guitar, a simple drum beat, and lead guitarist Buck Meek’s creative guitar embellishments. Lenker calls for all to come together on “No Reason,” another song that is Lenker absolutely showing off her skill of writing about the natural beauty that is the relationships in our lives. She calls on cynics and nihilists to come together and experience others, it’s like a group hug in the form of a song.
Indie Folk Experiments
When you are creating an album and it ends up 20 tracks long, it’s likely you have something new to introduce to listeners and Big Thief has shaken their habitual on a handful of cuts off Dragon. On lead single “Little Things,” Big Thief releases one of their most psychedelic songs to date, featuring busy production of unrelenting strums of shimmery acoustic guitars. The track that follows is the shortest song on the album, “Heavy Bend,” is another experiment for the band influenced by trip-hop and electronic music styles. The song showcases a looping acoustic guitar, shakers, and a snare drum, creating a unique vibe that sounds like it could loop forever. They continue to flirt with trip-hop on “Blurred View,” a hazy Portishead-esque venture into the genre that they still manage to find their own footing in. I’d give anything to hear them expand on the sounds in this portion of the album. The last of the major experiments on the album is the jittering “Wake Me up to Drive.” The beat driving the song sounds like one that comes pre-programmed into a cheap keyboard that a bedroom pop artist would be more likely to utilize.
Ending the album is “Blue lighting,” a mildly psychedelic honky-tonk that’s lively rhythm encourages you to dance while Lenker sings maybe her cheesiest lyrics during the song’s chorus. “I wanna be the shoelace that you tie/Yeah, I wanna be the vapor gets you high.” The song ends and a voice leaves us with a final question, “What should we do now?” They sound excited yet a little confused. I’m sure Big Thief will not only figure it out, but when they do I’ll be here, ready to listen.