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Oct 11, 2019 Big Thief By Christopher Roberts

Big Thief have released a new album, Two Hands, today via 4AD. Last night the band stopped by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to perform the album’s lead single, “Not.” It was a passionate and rousing performance and you can watch it below. Now that the album is out, you can also stream the whole thing below. Also below are the band’s upcoming tour dates.

Two Hands is Big Thief’s second album of 2019 and is the “sister album” to U.F.O.F., which was released back in May via 4AD. Previously they shared Two Hands’ first single, “Not,” which was #1 on our Songs of the Week list. Then they have shared a second song from it, “Forgotten Eyes,” which also made our Songs of the Week list.

The band began work on Two Hands only days after finishing U.F.O.F. Whereas their last album was recorded at Bear Creek Studios in a cabin in the woods of Washington State, Two Hands was recorded at the Sonic Ranch studio 30 miles west of El Paso, in the desert near the Mexican border, surrounded by thousands of acres of pecan orchards. The songs were recorded live in the studio, with largely no overdubs, and the vocals on all but two songs were completely live vocal takes.

Big Thief consists of singer/songwriter/guitarist Adrianne Lenker, guitarist Buck Meek, bassist Max Oleartchik, and drummer James Krivchenia. As with U.F.O.F., the band once again worked with engineer Dom Monks and producer Andrew Sarlo (who also mixed the album with Krivchenia).

Lenker had this to say about the album in a previous press release: “‘Two Hands’ has the songs that I’m the most proud of; I can imagine myself singing them when I’m old. Musically and lyrically, you can’t break it down much further than this. It’s already bare-bones.”

U.F.O.F. was the follow-up to 2017’s Capacity and 2016’s debut album, Masterpiece. Last fall Lenker released a new solo album, abysskiss, via Saddle Creek.

Big Thief are partnering with Plus1 for their North American shows, with $1 from every ticket sold in the U.S. going to benefit Little Kids Rock and Youth Speaks. Shows in Canada will benefit DANS LA RUE, Sketch, and UNYA. 2020 European dates will benefit Hangarmusik and 2020 UK shows will benefit Girls Rock London (GRL!).

Read our 2016 Pleased to Meet You interview with Big Thief.

Read our 2017 interview with Big Thief on Capacity.

Big Thief Tour Dates:

Fri. Oct. 11 - New York, NY @ Webster Hall (SOLD OUT)
Sat. Oct. 12 - South Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground (SOLD OUT)
Sun. Oct. 13 - Boston, MA @ Wilbur Theatre (SOLD OUT)
Tue. Oct. 15 - Montreal, QC @ La Tulipe (SOLD OUT)
Wed. Oct. 16 - Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Concert Theatre (SOLD OUT)
Thu. Oct. 17 - Detroit, MI @ Majestic Theatre
Fri. Oct. 18 - Chicago, IL @ Metro (SOLD OUT)
Sat. Oct. 19 - Madison, WI @ The Sylvee
Mon. Oct. 21 - Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
Thu. Oct. 24 - Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom (SOLD OUT)
Fri. Oct. 25 - Vancouver, BC @ Vogue Theatre (SOLD OUT)
Sat. Oct. 26 - Seattle, WA @ Moore Theatre
Mon. Oct. 28 - San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore (SOLD OUT)
Tue. Oct. 29 - Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater
Wed. Oct. 30 - Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory
Fri. Nov. 1 - Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom (SOLD OUT)
Sat. Nov. 2 - Albuquerque, NM @ Sister (SOLD OUT)
Mon. Nov. 4 - Austin, TX @ Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheatre
Tue. Nov. 5 - Dallas, TX @ Trees
Thu. Nov. 7 - Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
Fri. Nov. 8 - Saxapahaw, NC @ Haw River Ballroom (SOLD OUT)
Sat. Nov. 9 - Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer (SOLD OUT)
Sun. Nov. 10 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club (SOLD OUT)
Mon. Nov. 11 - Columbus, OH @ The Athenaeum Theatre
Mon. Feb. 17 - Lisbon, PT @ LAV
Tue. Feb. 18 - Porto, PT @ Hard Club
Wed. Feb. 19 - Madrid, ES @ Joy Eslava
Thu. Feb. 20 - Barcelona, ES @ La 2 de Apolo
Sat. Feb. 22 - Bologna, IT @ Locomotiv
Sun. Feb. 23 - Milan, IT @ Magnolia
Mon. Feb. 24 - Lyon, FR @ Epicerie Moderne
Tue. Feb. 25 - Paris, FR @ Cabaret Sauvage
Thu. Feb. 27 - London, UK @ Hammersmith Apollo
Sat. Feb. 29 - Nottingham, UK @ Rock City
Sun. Mar. 1 - Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall
Mon. Mar. 2 - Glasgow, UK @ Old Fruitmarket
Thu. Mar. 5 - Brussels, BE @ AB Ballroom
Fri. Mar. 6 - Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
Sat. Mar. 7 - Cologne, DE @ Luxor
Sun. Mar. 8 - Hamburg, DE @ Uebel & Gefährlich
Mon. Mar. 9 - Berlin, DE @ Astra
Wed. Mar. 11 - Copenhagen, DK @ Vega Main Hall
Thu. Mar. 12 - Gothenburg, SE @ Pustervik
Fri. Mar. 13 - Stockholm, SE @ Debaser
Sat. Mar. 14 - Olso, NO @ Rockefeller
Sun. Mar. 15 - Aarhus, DK @ Voxhall
Thu. May 7 - Tokyo, Japan @ Shibuya WWW X
Fri. May 8 - Osaka, Japan @ Shangri-la

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