Album Review: Big Thief's Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You
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Big Thief is an indie rock band with prominent folk undertones. Their fifth album, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You, was released on February 11 and stays true to the purpose of the band’s past albums, which seems to be creating music for every chapter of your life. The album is a stitch work of a dreamy yet cluttered life, filled with twenty melodic songs that make you feel a little more seen and a little less lost.
1. Change
The album starts with this gut-wrenching yet somehow comforting song to set the tone for the album, which seems to be the idea of growing pains.
2. Time Escaping
A shift from the first song, this track has an energy that gives you the sense that this album will keep you on your toes with its ever-switching aura.
3. Spud Infinity
Opening with a violin, this song is one of the most nostalgic on the album, making you long for childhood wonder and a home-cooked meal. Buckle up if you get homesick easily.
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4. Certainty
The fourth track on the album is reminiscent of an all-too-familiar feeling. It draws upon the experience of hurling ourselves into purgatory when we find ourselves stuck. Stuck between our inner child and the adult we are supposed to be. The simple background track, heavy on drums, draws out the yearning in the song.
5. Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe You
The album-titled track is like a waiting room for the soul. Just as the title entails, it makes you think of fresh air and the power of a new beginning.
6. Sparrow
One of the more mellow songs on the album with a gentle banjo backtrack.
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7. Little Things
If you know Big Thief, this track is reminiscent of their 2016 album, Masterpiece, heavy on the magical instrumental with a dose of lovesickness for the longest track on the album.
8. Heavy Bend
Don’t be surprised if the opening instrumental makes your jaw drop. The harp track, combined with the prose-like lyrics of the song, makes this short 1:36 track fast-moving but one you can’t stop playing.
9. Flower of Love
This song will make you crave a sunny day and a love that has not existed for you yet.
10. Blurred View
The band ditches the nostalgia on this track for a darker sound with themes of yearning and revenge.
11. Red Moon
Returning to the folk sound found in the first track, Red Moon is the sound of a summer evening in the country. Dust off your cowboy boots and your favorite white dress for this Fleetwood Mac-esque song.
12. Dried Roses
Getting deeper here and once again delving into growing pains, this song goes through the mundane details of adult life.
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13. No Reason
Beginning with a steady drumbeat, this is easily one of the album's most heartbreaking songs. It leaves a disdain in your mouth for modern society and the loneliness that media is moving us toward.
14. Wake Me up to Drive
The new top song on my road trip playlist.
15. Promise is a Pendulum
A rainy-day song, this track's steady guitar melody is dangerous in its gravity of hypnotizing you into the heartbreak of the song.
16. 12,000 Lines
You can feel a summer love slipping through your fingers with this one.
17. Simulation Swarm
Just as you would expect from the title, the song’s message is masked by the instrumentals. It leaves you hopeful of authentic love shielding you from the autopilot world we live in.
18. Love Love Love
A more intense, less soft sound than the other tracks on this album explores the frustrations of an all-consuming love.
19. The Only Place
In the attempts of softening the blow of the album, the second to last track is gentle with themes of the utopia of love in a world that may otherwise be crumbling around us.
20. Blue Lightning
Big Thief leaves us on a light note, with folklore and a track that encompasses the themes on the first track; this time embracing the growing pains of life and embracing that change of age.
Strike out,
Writer: Alyson Brinkley
Editor: Noelle Knowlton
Graphic Designer: Jacqueline Esguerra
Tallahassee