---Ada Wofford
--------11 October 2019 on 4AD Records
I struggled with whether or not to write this review. It’s cool, it’s their second of the year but come on, Guided by Voices is about to put out their third of the year--so that alone isn't cause for praise. The live approach is what really interested me and it pays off upon listening. There’s a bit of messiness and fuck-it-ness that folk-rock requires. UFOF was too shiny for my sensibilities, despite it having some terrific songs. Like UFOF and Capacity though, Two Hands continues Big Thief’s penchant for hit-and-miss records.
One of my favorite songs of the decade is “Shark Smile,” from Capacity; the rest of that album is wholly forgettable. I hate being critical about such a sincere band but they are true scholars of the folk-rock school that throws noodles at the wall and decides, sticking or not, that they all deserve a chance. Take the track, “Wolf” from Two Hands—Sure it’s pretty, it’s nice, but I will never remember this song. It’s inherently forgettable. It sounds like the Cat Stevens' song off of the Garden State soundtrack and I just don’t care enough to look up its name because it’s also forgettable.
Big Thief seem to be walking in the footsteps of Death Cab for Cutie who were capable of putting out some of the catchiest, hookiest indie tracks of the aughts but whose albums, when taken as a whole, generally fell far below par.
“Not” is clearly the best song on Two Hands but the rest of the album fails to hold a candle to this banger. There are moments of “Not” where I genuinely hear Nirvana—No, I don’t hear the influence of Nirvana; I hear the angst, the pain, the loneliness of Nirvana. And then, two songs later, I hear the slapdash, wannabe, whish-I-lived-in-‘68, “Replaced.” All meandering leads, boring vocals, and a chord progression that could put a meth addict to sleep. Literally, the best part of this track is that you hear the singer tell the lead guitarist to take his solo and only true music nerds, like me, care about stuff like that.
Overall, this album is mediocre, as is UFOF. But both albums have these tiny moments that kill your soul in the best way possible and that’s still cause for celebration. “Not” might be my favorite track of 2019. Most mornings when I wake up, it’s stuck in my head. And then I play it, and it sounds perfectly new again. That song is a masterpiece, this album—not so much.
*
If you’re interested in their gear, I don’t believe there is much published but I did find this write up on the lead guitarist. They’re not too effect heavy, mostly leaning on clean tones, but I swear they’re a tube amp band. I’ve seen enough videos to know but for some reason I’m just not positive.
But Big Thief is a band that doesn’t need to rely on gear. If you watch the video below, you can see the chemistry. I love the way they manipulate their stage positions—It’s not Rage Against the Machine with the drummer facing the wrong way; and it’s not Cream attempting to make everyone the front-man; but there is something more egalitarian about it. More team-like. When they play live, they could be playing out of tin cans, it’s the fact that they’re together—That’s all that matters. And can you hear it--every nuance.
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