Formed in Brooklyn, New York, in 2015, indie folk band Big Thief marks a decade of music-making with the release of their sixth studio album. Comprised of Adrianne Lenker (vocals and guitar), Buck Meek (guitar), and James Krivchenia (drums), the group is known for its sensitive soundscapes and intimate lyricism, drawing from personal experiences and those around them. Their latest release, Double Infinity, continues in this vein, while still expanding their sound, exploring themes of love, time, language, and the essence of life itself.
The album begins with an upbeat ode to aging and acceptance; Lenker’s lyricism in “Incomprehensible,” challenges society’s often negative perception of growing older, uncovering beauty within the visible signs of time. The lyrics, “But the soft lovely silvers are now fallin’ on my shoulder/ My mother and my grandma, my great grandmother too/ Wrinkle like the river, sweeten like the dew,” connect this softened perspective on aging to generational love; she recognizes this beauty in the generations before her, therefore sees it in herself. The theme of family reappears in the track “Grandmother,” where Lenker explores the emotional inheritance passed down through families. She emphasizes the lack of a binary in this experience and how both love and pain are essential parts of what we carry forward.
The second track of the album, “Words,” examines the limitations of language and how words can be insufficient in describing deep human emotions. This theme is familiar territory for Lenker; much of her lyricism for Big Thief as well as her solo tracks explore the subconscious and how connection can exist beyond verbal expression. This idea mirrors the song, “Happy With You,” which repeats the phrase “Happy with you,” followed by “Why do I need to explain myself?” throughout the length of the track – a subtle resistance to over-intellectualizing emotion. While perhaps less conventional in structure or accessibility, the song reinforces the albums exploration of love and language, contributing to its overarching narrative.
At its core, Double Infinity seems to revolve around themes of love and human connection. The title track explores the coexistence of two infinite forces – time (specifically the past and future) and unwavering love. The lines, “At the bridge of two infinities / What is formin’, what is fadin’/ Deep within the center of/ The picture is the one I love,” portray love as an ongoing force within the fluidity of time. This concept is further investigated in songs such as “Los Angeles” which uses a past relationship to emphasize how love changes over time, or the track “All Night All Day” which shows how love is not defined by the positive and the negative.
The musicality of Double Infinity is stunningly beautiful; the group blends skittering percussion and catchy guitar tunes to express the joy of love, while slower base lines and heartfelt lyricism lend weight to the albums’ more introspective moments. This album is less of a record and more of a canvas in which Big Thief paints an image of a nostalgia-saturated reality where time ceases to exist. Double Infinity stands as a masterful exploration of love’s place within the broader human experience and is charged with emotion and depth, earning it a rating of 4 stars. While their storytelling approach has changed over the years, Big Thief has preserved their most valuable quality: a tender, bittersweet intimacy woven into every track.
