Big Thief continues to unravel the world of their upcoming album Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You with a charming pair of singles: “No Reason” and “Spud Infinity.” The complete record arrives on Feb. 11 via 4AD.
Big Thief fanatics will be quick to recognize the warm familiarity of “Spud Infinity,” an inviting track the band and Adrianne Lenker have both performed live for a number of years before preparing an official recording.
“No Reason” is a fresher release, inspired by an unexpected moment during the recording of Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You with Dom Monks in the Colorado Rockies. Enthralled by the flute playing of Richard Hardy, an old collaborator of Carole King, flowing from a nearby lookout tower, Big Thief invited the musician to sit in on a recording session. The result is the wholesome “No Reason.”
Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You was completed across four different sessions in Upstate New York, Topanga Canyon, the Rocky Mountains, and Dr. Dog’s Scott McMicken’s home studio in Tucson, Arizona, over five months. The result was 45 completed songs, cut down to 20 carefully selected tracks for the record that highlight the band’s unanticipated moments of magic.
“One of the things that bonds us together as a band is pure magic,” Lenker said in a statement. “I think we all have the same guide and none of us have ever spoken what it is because we couldn’t name it, but somehow, we are all going for the same thing, and when we hit it… we all know it’s it, but none of us to this day, or maybe ever, will be able to articulate in words what the ‘it’ is. Something about it is magic to me.”
From Rolling Stone US