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Big Thief
Big Thief performing in 2018. From left to right: Buck Meek, James Krivchenia, and Adrianne Lenker (Max Oleartchik is obscured by Lenker)
Background information
Origin	Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Genres	Indie folk folk rock indie rock Americana alt-country
Years active	2015–present
Labels	Saddle Creek 4AD Weathervane
Members	Adrianne Lenker Buck Meek James Krivchenia
Past members	Jason Burger Max Oleartchik
Website	bigthief.net

Big Thief is an American indie folk band formed in Brooklyn, New York, in 2015. The band consists of Adrianne Lenker (vocals, guitar), Buck Meek (guitar, backing vocals) and James Krivchenia (drums). Between 2015 and 2024, the band also included longtime bass guitarist, Max Oleartchik.

The band's debut album, Masterpiece, was released on Saddle Creek Records in 2016. Their second studio album, Capacity, was released in 2017. In 2019, the band signed to 4AD and released two studio albums: U.F.O.F. in May 2019 and Two Hands in October 2019. Both albums received critical acclaim; U.F.O.F. was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards, and the song "Not", was nominated for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards.

The band's fifth studio album, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You, was released in February 2022. A double album, it reached the top ten in the Netherlands and was also nominated for Best Alternative Music Album at the 2023 Grammys, while its second single "Certainty" was nominated for Best Alternative Music Performance. After nine years within the band, Max Oleartchik departed in June 2024, with the band citing "interpersonal reasons" for the departure.

History

2013–2015: Early years

Adrianne Lenker met Buck Meek at a show in Boston, and after meeting him again in Brooklyn as undergraduates, the pair began performing as a duo. They toured as a duo in 2013, and released two EPs, a-sides and b-sides, in 2014. In 2015, after performing for two years and developing a small grassroots following, they began looking for additional members to accompany them, and formed the band Big Thief with the arrival of Max Oleartchik, a bassist and longtime friend of Meek's. James Krivchenia joined the band later, originally as a sound engineer and then as a drummer. All four members of Big Thief attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.

2016–2018: Masterpiece and Capacity

The band's debut studio album, Masterpiece was released on Saddle Creek Records on May 27, 2016. It received generally favorable reviews from critics; it has a rating of 79/100 on Metacritic. Bob Boilen from NPR wrote that Big Thief was "a band bound by great songs," and called the title track of Masterpiece "one of the best songs I've heard this year." Jillian Mapes, writing for Pitchfork Media, gave Masterpiece a rating of 7.7 out of 10 saying the songs on the album "sound cherry-picked over a lifetime of writing". Robert Christgau described the album's songs as being "fragile, noisy images of a love perpetually out of reach". Ben Salmon wrote in the Portland Mercury that on the album Big Thief "alternately sounds like an unearthed field recording ("Little Arrow"), a pop band with a broken heart's pulse ("Vegas"), and a classic, buzzy indie-rock outfit ("Interstate")."

On April 4, 2017, Big Thief premiered a new single "Mythological Beauty" on NPR. The next day the band released the single's official video and confirmed that the song would appear on their second studio album, Capacity. The full album was released on June 9 via Saddle Creek. Capacity received critical acclaim upon its release. On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from music critics, the album received an average score of 81 indicating "universal acclaim" based on 15 reviews.

Capacity appeared on multiple album-of-the-year lists, including #1 on NPR's "Bob Boilen's Top Ten Album's of 2017". Boilen said, "I don't recall the last time I had the same band in my top five albums for two years in a row. But this year's Capacity (my No. 1 album) and last year's Masterpiece (my No. 4 album) did just that." Spin named Capacity #2 on their "50 Best Albums of 2017", citing the band's "open engagement with anguish in their bracing songs." The song "Mary" appeared on Pitchfork's 200 Best Songs of the 2010s list, at #44.

2019–2020: U.F.O.F. and Two Hands

U.F.O.F., the band's third studio album, was announced on February 26, 2019. The album was recorded at Bear Creek Studio in Woodinville, Washington. On the same day they released the album's first single, its title track, "U.F.O.F.", and announced a new tour across America and in Europe. The band released two more singles, "Cattails" and "Century" ahead of the album release on May 3, 2019. U.F.O.F. received critical acclaim upon its release. It was called "Best New Music" by Pitchfork, scoring a 9.2 and came in at #33 on Pitchfork's 200 Best Albums of the 2010s list. At Metacritic the album received an average score of 87/100. In the first album's release week U.F.O.F. reached the top of Billboard charts, including the #1 position on Alternative New Artist Albums, Americana/Folk Albums, Top New Artist Albums, #2 placement for LP Vinyl Albums, #6 placement for Current Alternative Albums, #8 placement for Current Rock Albums, and #142 for Billboard Top 200 Albums. The band also had 3 sold out album release shows, one the night before the album release in LA at The Fonda Theatre on May 2, another in LA on May 3 at The Bootleg Theater, and a third night in Brooklyn, NY, at Elsewhere on May 5, 2019.

U.F.O.F. was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards.

Big Thief released their fourth studio album, Two Hands on October 11, 2019. The album was recorded at Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, Texas, shortly after the recording of U.F.O.F. and is billed as its "Earth twin". The album's lead single "Not" was nominated for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards.

2021–present: Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You and Oleartchik's departure

On August 10, 2021, the band released the songs "Little Things" and "Sparrow", both which were produced by Big Thief drummer James Krivchenia. "Little Things" was recorded with Shawn Everett at Five Star Studios in Topanga, California, in October 2020. "Sparrow" was recorded with Sam Evian at Flying Cloud Recordings in the Catskills, New York, in July and August 2020.

On September 7, 2021, the band released the song "Certainty" followed by another song, "Change", on October 6. They also announced plans for a North American tour in 2022. In the November 2021 issue of Mojo, Big Thief announced their plans to release a 20-track double album in early 2022. The album was recorded in four different locations across the United States after the band quarantined in the Vermont woods for two weeks in July 2020. Later that month the band confirmed the album's title Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You and a February 11, 2022, release date.

In June 2022, the band announced two concert dates in Oleartchik's hometown of Tel Aviv, Israel, for July 6 and 7 of the same year. However, the announcement received backlash with criticism pertaining to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The band first released a statement defending their decision to perform in Israel, then eventually retracted their previous statement and canceled the concert dates. The cancellation was received with opposite backlash from the concert venue. The band previously performed at the venue in 2017.

At the 65th Annual Grammy Awards, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album and "Certainty" was nominated for Best Alternative Music Performance.

In July 2023, the band released the single "Vampire Empire", which they had debuted in a live performance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert earlier in February of the same year. In October 2023, "Vampire Empire" was released as a 7" single, with the song "Born for Loving You" as a B-side.

On July 11, 2024, the band announced the departure of bassist Max Oleartchik, a decision which according to the band was made for "interpersonal reasons with mutual respect in our hearts". On July 28, the band performed their first show in nearly a year at Project Pabst in Portland, where they debuted a five-piece lineup featuring a second percussionist, Jon Nellen, and a new bass guitarist, Justin Felton. The setlist included 14 songs, 10 of which were live debuts.

On August 27, 2024, it was announced that Big Thief served as producers and backing band for singer-songwriter Tucker Zimmerman's 15th studio album, Dance of Love. The band had previously appeared on stage with Zimmerman.

Musical style

AllMusic called Big Thief's style "folk-tinged indie rock" spearheaded by the "personal songwriting" of Adrianne Lenker.

Band members

Current members

• Adrianne Lenker – vocals, guitar (2015–present)
• Buck Meek – guitar, backing vocals (2015–present)
• James Krivchenia – drums, backing vocals, percussion, synthesizers (2016–present)

Touring members

• Justin Felton – bass guitar (2024–present)
• Jon Nellen – additional drums (2024–present)

Former members

• Jason Burger – drums (2015–2016)
• Max Oleartchik – bass guitar, upright bass, backing vocals (2015–2024)

• Adrianne Lenker
• Buck Meek
• Max Oleartchik
• James Krivchenia

Discography

Albums

EPs

• Demos Vol. 1 (2020)
• Live at the Bunker Studio (2021)

Singles

Music videos

• "Masterpiece" (2016)
• "Humans" (2016)
• "Mythological Beauty" (2017)
• "Red Moon" (2022)

Notes

1. Masterpiece did not enter the US Billboard 200, but peaked at number 10 on the US Heatseekers Albums Chart.
2. Capacity did not enter the US Billboard 200, but peaked at number 9 on the US Heatseekers Albums Chart.
3. U.F.O.F. did not enter the Australian ARIA Albums Chart but peaked at number 12 on the ARIA Hitseekers Chart.
4. "Mythological Beauty" did not enter the UK Singles Chart, but peaked at number 46 on the UK Physical Singles Chart.
5. "U.F.O.F." did not enter the Flanders Ultratop 50, but charted as an "extra tip" on the Ultratip chart.
6. "Cattails" did not enter the Flanders Ultratop 50, but charted as an "extra tip" on the Ultratip chart.
7. "Century" did not enter the Flanders Ultratop 50, but charted as an "extra tip" on the Ultratip chart.
8. "Forgotten Eyes" did not enter the Flanders Ultratop 50, but charted as an "extra tip" on the Ultratip chart.

Accolades

References

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2. ^ Strauss, Matthew (July 11, 2024). "Big Thief Bassist Max Oleartchik Leaves Band for "Interpersonal Reasons"". Pitchfork. Retrieved July 12, 2024.
3. ^ Petrusich, Amanda (October 12, 2020). "Adrianne Lenker's Radical Honesty". The New Yorker. Retrieved May 9, 2022.
4. ^ Naddaff-Hafrey, Benjamin (November 9, 2017). "The Lore Of Big Thief". NPR. Retrieved May 9, 2022.
5. Maldonado, Eva (August 10, 2018). "Indie rock band Big Thief talks Berklee, Boston, and being vulnerable". The Boston Globe. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
6. Weiss, Dan (June 1, 2016). "Review: Big Thief Are Halfway To A Low-Strung 'Masterpiece'". Spin. Retrieved June 10, 2022.
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24. "5 Takeaways from the 2020 Grammy Nominations". Pitchfork. November 20, 2019. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
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27. "Adrienne Lenker". www.grammy.com. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
28. Minsker, Evan (August 10, 2021). "Big Thief Share New Songs "Little Things" and "Sparrow": Listen". Pitchfork. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
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30. Legaspi, Althea (September 7, 2021). "Big Thief's New Song 'Certainty' Was Recorded Using a Cigarette Lighter". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 10, 2022.
31. Skinner, Tom (October 6, 2021). "Big Thief share dreamy new single 'Change' and North American tour dates". NME. Retrieved June 10, 2022.
32. Aston, Martin (November 2021). "Big Thief Trust Themselves To Find Mystery On Album Five". Mojo. No. 336. p. 22.
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35. Richards, Will (June 5, 2022). "Big Thief share statement explaining decision to announce Israel shows". NME. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
36. Uitti, Jacob (June 6, 2022). "NYC Band Big Thief Receives Backlash as they Hype Shows in Israel". American Songwriter. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
37. ^ Ruiz, Matthew Ismael (June 4, 2022). "Big Thief Defend Upcoming Shows in Israel". Pitchfork. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
38. Monroe, Jazz (June 9, 2022). "Big Thief Call Off Israel Concerts". Pitchfork. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
39. Young, Alex (June 9, 2022). "Big Thief cancel concerts in Israel, venue calls band "cowards"". Consequence. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
40. ^ Lee, Taila (November 15, 2022). "2023 GRAMMY Nominations: See The Complete Nominees List". Grammys.com. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
41. DeVille, Chris (July 19, 2023). "Big Thief – "Vampire Empire"". Stereogum. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
42. Minsker, Evan (March 1, 2023). "Watch Big Thief Debut New Song "Vampire Empire" on Colbert". Pitchfork. Retrieved March 1, 2023.
43. Kreps, Daniel (September 13, 2023). "Big Thief Unveil Studio Rendition of Live Staple 'Born for Loving You'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved October 5, 2024.
44. Breihan, Tom (July 29, 2024). "Big Thief Debuted Ten New Songs At Project Pabst, First Show With New Lineup". Stereogum. Retrieved July 29, 2024.
45. Rossignol, Derrick (July 29, 2024). "Big Thief Bust Out Ten New Songs (And Two New Members) At A Festival". UPROXX. Retrieved July 29, 2024.
46. @bigthiefmusic (July 31, 2024). "we are so excited to be playing with our friends Justin Felton and Jon Nellen on our upcoming tour ❤️ starting next week in Sweden" (Tweet). Retrieved August 28, 2024 – via Twitter.
47. ^ "Big Thief Are Tucker Zimmerman's Band On New Album 'Dance Of Love': Hear "Burial At Sea"". Stereogum. August 27, 2024. Retrieved October 5, 2024.
48. Strauss, Matthew (August 27, 2024). "Tucker Zimmerman Works With Big Thief on New 4AD Album Dance of Love". Pitchfork. Retrieved October 5, 2024.
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52. Peaks in Australia:
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58. Peaks in Scotland:
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    • Two Hands: "2019-10-18 Top 100 Scottish Albums Archive". Official Charts Company. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
    • Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You: "2022-02-18 Top 100 Scottish Albums Archive". Official Charts Company. Retrieved February 19, 2022.
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62. "ARIA Report: Issue 1523" (PDF). ARIA. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 29, 2019. Retrieved November 20, 2023.
63. Redfern, Mark (May 11, 2021). "Big Thief Announce Fall Tour Dates, Release New Live EP and Share Live Video for "Shoulders"". Under the Radar. Retrieved May 23, 2021.
64. "Big Thief – Chart History: Adult Alternative Airplay". Billboard. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
65. "Big Thief – Chart History: Hot Alternative Songs". Billboard. Retrieved March 4, 2024.
66. "Big Thief – Chart History: Hot Rock & Alternative Songs". Billboard. Retrieved January 17, 2024.
67. • "Little Things": "Vinsældarlisti v36 11092021" (PDF). RÚV (in Icelandic). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 22, 2021. Retrieved September 30, 2022.
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    • "No Reason": "Vinsældalisti Rásar 2 - RÚV". RÚV (in Icelandic). Archived from the original on February 27, 2022. Retrieved October 3, 2022.
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69. "Mother – Single by Big Thief on Apple Music". Apple Music. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
70. "Dandelion – Single by Big Thief on Apple Music". Apple Music. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
71. "Mythological Beauty – Single by Big Thief on Apple Music". Apple Music. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
72. "Mythological Beauty - Big Thief - Official Charts". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
73. "Shark Smile – Single by Big Thief on Apple Music". Apple Music. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
74. "Big Thief – "Mary"". Stereogum. May 31, 2017. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
75. "Big Thief – "UFOF"". Stereogum. February 26, 2019. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
76. "Big Thief – "Cattails"". Stereogum. April 3, 2019. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
77. "Big Thief drops melodic and laidback new single "Century": Stream". Consequence of Sound. April 30, 2019. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
78. "Big Thief – "Forgotten Eyes"". Stereogum. October 2, 2019. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
79. "Love in Mine – Single by Big Thief on Apple Music". Apple Music. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
80. "Off You – Single by Big Thief on Apple Music". Apple Music. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
81. "Little Things/Sparrow – Single by Big Thief on Apple Music". Apple Music. Archived from the original on November 9, 2021. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
82. Hussey, Allison (September 7, 2021). "Big Thief Share New Song "Certainty": Listen". Pitchfork. Retrieved September 8, 2021.
83. Minsker, Evan (October 6, 2021). "Big Thief Announce 2022 North American Tour, Share New Song "Change": Listen". Pitchfork. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
84. Darville, Jordan (November 16, 2021). "Big Thief share "Time Escaping," announce new album". The Fader. Retrieved November 24, 2021.
85. Minsker, Evan (December 14, 2021). "Big Thief Share New Songs "No Reason" and "Spud Infinity": Listen". Pitchfork. Retrieved December 14, 2021.
86. Hussey, Allison (January 19, 2022). "Big Thief Reschedule European Tour, Share New Song "Simulation Swarm"". Pitchfork. Retrieved January 19, 2022.
87. Strauss, Matthew (July 19, 2023). "Big Thief Officially Release "Vampire Empire"". Pitchfork. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
88. "Best Alternative Music Album | 2020 GRAMMYs". GRAMMY.com. November 19, 2019. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
89. Brandle, Lars (April 2, 2020). "Chance the Rapper, FKA Twigs, Courtney Barnett & More Shortlisted For 2020 A2IM Libera Awards". Billboard. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
90. "2021 2021 GRAMMYs Awards Show: Complete Winners & Nominees List". GRAMMYs. Retrieved March 25, 2021.

External links

• Official website

• Big Thief
• 4AD artists
• Indie rock musical groups from New York (state)
• Musical groups from Brooklyn
• Saddle Creek Records artists
• Musical groups established in 2015
• 2015 establishments in New York City