Big Thief – Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You
[4AD]The curious thing about Big Thief’s fifth album was just how much exposure we had to it in advance of its release this past month, with almost an entire LPs worth of singles dropped over the past half year as part of the rollout for the band’s first double record.
If you’ve been following the dazzling array of career-best tracks released this past January, from Little Things/ Sparrow in August to Simulation Swarm, then you’ll already know it was a pretty safe bet to back Dragon New Warm Mountain being the most magical treasure of the Brooklyn quartet’s career to date, and the final 80 minute result doesn’t disappoint for even one second of its behemoth running time.
Recorded across four locations in five months, the inspiring production process of Dragon was conceived by drummer James Krivchenia. It saw the band travelling mountains, canyons, woods and deserts around the US while tapping into the primal musical instincts and raw craftsmanship that’s informed their bewitching indie folk since day one.
As such, Dragon offers up the most pure and beautiful expression of Big Thief’s career to date. They lay down deeper cuts throughout this epic work that are as equally majestic and compelling as instant fan favourites from last year such as ‘Certainty’, ‘Spud Infinity’ and ‘Change’.
Sprawling and spectacular, yet always as intimate and intricate as the very best of Big Thief, Dragon is a career-defining accomplishment and a supremely early, yet no doubt worthy, frontrunner for the indie-rock record of 2022.
Words: Andrew Lambert
