LOS ANGELES (AP) — When asked where she lives, Big Thief lead vocalist Adrianne Lenker will tell you “the forests.”
The Grammy-nominated writer drifts between the Northeast, Minnesota and Texas, like a folk-rock musician of another era.
But as the band was splintering last year, she hunkered down with them in upstate New York. Bassist Max Oleartchik left, and Big Thief needed to imagine their shared future as a trio. The bandmembers are cryptic, even now, about the split, citing “interpersonal reasons" and sidestepping speculation that's circulated online.
“Let me be incomprehensible,” Lenker croons on the new track “Incomprehensible,” as if in response. Her bandmates are easier to pin down: guitarist Buck Meek lives in the Topanga Canyon area of Los Angeles County, and drummer James Krivchenia lives in Brooklyn, New York.
For the album “Double Infinity,” Lenker brought in a list of over a hundred songs to whittle down to nine tracks. The resulting sound is as spirited and big-hearted as the band’s early days, but thrums with new voices, experimental flourishes and even a zither. Throughout, Lenker grounds floaty, rapturous verses with her signature, warm vocals and pithy aphorisms, like an oracle who transmutes pain into wisdom.
“We dream our dreams together/Even without laying in the same bed,” Lenker sings on “Los Angeles,” a track that some will interpret to be about her relationship with Meek. The bandmates were once married; after they separated, Meek took a break from touring. Then Lenker came out. Since they’ve reunited in the band, the two regard each other as “deep friends.”
The group talked to The Associated Press about how they became a trio, worked with new collaborators and reimagined their sound on “Double Infinity,” out Friday.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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AP: You started making this album in isolation and then brought in collaborators. Why open the creation process to other artists?
KRIVCHENIA: After trying it in isolation in the trio for a little bit, we realized what the music, the songs, are asking for is something we can’t imagine or control — live, crackling, you know, a big group of people. The spirit of the music was like, “Why not open the windows?” Like, invite friends and collaborators and these legends that we all admire and put everyone in a room and see how it sounds.
AP: Are there growing pains in that?
LENKER: Between changing shapes to a trio and going through the grief of parting ways with our bandmate of 10 years, it brought us into a space of looking at our friendships — like, you know, between me, Buck and James — and just like spring cleaning, like going into all the dusty corners.
AP: The song “Incomprehensible” grapples with aging. What did you want to explore?
LENKER: So much wisdom and so much deep, true, actual beauty is found in nature everywhere. The older something is — not the less beautiful — the more grand, often. Like big, old trees or rivers and mountains.
There’s just a general exhaustion I feel inside as I go through the battle of like, learning how to actually see myself, see the beauty and meet myself. Well, “should I use this product?” And “should I go to this and have this thing done?”
(The lyric) "Let gravity be my sculptor and the wind do my hair,” is about the desire to be free and let go of these fears of how I appear.
KRIVCHENIA: There’s this beautiful acceptance of the mystery of like, “Can I just, like, exist without sort of analysis?” I crave that feeling all the time, of just wanting to exist without the judgmental self.
MEEK: I really resonate with that song because I feel ageless when I’m at play — playing music or playing in water. Playing music is a really vulnerable process, like seeing yourself in the mirror of a creative process.
AP: Can you talk about becoming a trio?
KRIVCHENIA: It was kind of like a breakup. It felt like we were losing a partner. Or at least in my experience of that feeling of separating with someone where there’s so much love, but you also know you need to go on a different path. It took us a lot of time.
LENKER: It was just like a natural progression that needed to happen, similar to when you have a romantic partner and you need to part ways because neither of you are able to be your fullest in that container.
Being a three piece, we had to re-find ourselves and allow it all to break apart and die. Part of the grief that I think we were collectively feeling in that breakup was like, “It’ll never be like this again.” It was 10 years of living, eating, breathing, sleeping, crying, playing, mourning together. We’ll never have that back: when we literally all lived on the road together, when none of us had apartments. We went through everything together and the only people who saw it happen was us.
AP: Adrianne and Buck, what’s it like to sing about love, sex and each other’s romantic relationships on stage?
LENKER: I think it’s a gift. It’s a testament to the love and friendship that’s at the core of our relationship, that it was just big enough to exist and carry and hold true into this new space and this new shape. We’re kindred spirits and I think that we’ve probably known each other through many lifetimes, but we had this iteration of our relationship for three years that was romantic and then it turned into a friendship.
MEEK: That’s beautifully said. It’s a testament to the power of music as a vessel for love, real love, and its ability to transmute pain and ego and fear and resentments. It’s also this system of accountability to show up for, almost like it’s a kid or something we’re coparenting through the shifting form of our relationship.
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