Big Thief are back with a new song, “Incomprehensible,” the opening track and first offering from the group’s upcoming album, Double Infinity, out Sept. 5 via 4AD.
“Incomprehensible” feels like vintage Big Thief with its bustling, ramshackle indie rock groove, though it’s propelled through a heady atmosphere where guitar feedback, horns, and even the occasional sitar float up through the ambiance. “Let me be naked alone, with nobody there,” Adrianne Lenker sings, “With mis-matched socks and shoes and stuff stuffed in my underwear/Incomprehensible, let me be.”
Double Infinity will be Big Thief’s first album in three years, following their celebrated 2022 album, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You. The group recorded the LP over a three-week period last winter at the Power Station studio in New York City. Arrangements were often figured out through improvisation, while the songs were recorded live with minimal overdubs.
Big Thief’s longtime collaborator, Dom Monks, produced, engineered, and mixed the album. The band was joined on the record by an array of collaborators including Alena Spanger, Caleb Michel, Hannah Cohen, Jon Nellen, Joshua Crumbly, June McDoom, Laraaji, Mikel Patrick Avery, and Mikey Buishas.
Double Infinity is also Big Thief’s first album as a trio, following the departure of bassist Max Oleartchik in July 2024. Specific reasons for the split were not shared, with the band saying only that, “This change was made for interpersonal reasons with mutual respect in our hearts.”
Big Thief have already announced a North American tour in support of Double Infinity. The first leg of their Somersault Slide 360 trek kicks off Sept. 17 at Channel 24 in Sacramento, California and the run wraps Nov. 7 at the White. Oak Music Hall Lawn in Houston.
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In the three years since dropping Dragon New Warm Mountain, Big Thief have released a handful of songs, including a studio version of live favorite “Vampire Empire.” In February of this year, they dropped Passional Relations, a five-track EP that mostly contained previously unreleased songs written during the sessions for Dragon New Mountain (the EP’s closer, “Shadow Too,” was a demo from 2018). Big Thief said they would donate most of the proceeds from the EP to relief efforts for the Los Angeles wildfires.
Double Infinity Track List
1. “Incomprehensible”
2. “Words”
3. “Los Angeles”
4. “All Night All Day”
5. “Double Infinity”
6. “No Fear”
7. “Grandmother”
8. “Happy With You”
9. “How Could I Have Known”