Top 5 Big Thief (or Adrianne Lenker) songs

 When summer rolls around, there’s nothing better than being in nature with your friends and listening to some music. Although music taste varies, my friends and I enjoy listening to American indie rock band, Big Thief and the lead singer’s (Adrianne Lenker) solo projects. Here’s some songs that emulate the new season and emphasize the love of nature, and its surrounding elements.

1. Simulation Swarm (Big Thief)

Simulation Swarm gets the first pick of Big Thief’s discography because it’s soft guitar accompanied by the smooth bass that plays an uptempo beat creates the image of a sitting beside a large tree, but not quite underneath so you can still feel the sun hitting your skin with its warm rays of shine. This song focuses on what it feels when you’re eating a bowl of fruit and sharing with your friends, laughing when it gets messy and stains your fingers with the cherry-red sweetness. The lyrics are descriptive, which is very common for Adrianne Lenker’s writing style, which tells a multitude of stories, ranging from witnessing horses gallop freely about to admiring the soft skin of a newborn baby. All these descriptions lead up to the chorus, which reveals that this is a love song. “You believe, I believe too, that you are the river of light who I love,” is a phrase in the song that’s one of my personal favorites. The subject is love is strong and a common theme in Big Thief’s music. 

2. Certainty (Big Thief)

Certainty is from the album Dragon In The New Warm Mountain, I Believe In You, which is the most recent Big Thief release. This song deserves its spot on this list because it’s the perfect summer road trip song. I recently had this track on repeat once the sun started to come out more. The song reminds me what it feels like to trust someone fully and to accept that they will accept you as you are, if you accept them. The lyrics are more simple in comparison to some of the other works done by Big Thief but the description of love is still there. It’s catchy and fun drums make it the perfect song to sing along to with your friends or to have it play in the background as you drive under the clear sky with the fresh air hitting your skin, accompanied by the sun’s warm breath. 

3. ingydar (Adrianne Lenker)

This song is from Adrianne Lenker’s solo project, titled “songs,” and describes the aspect of growing and accepting that as you continue to grow into the person you always hoped to become, you also continue to slowly decay. It’s a bit morbid to think about, but it’s the truth that we should face. In a way, it’s an admiration for aging and loving that you only have this life experience once and loving it as you move forward is just as important as living it. I feel that the current generation is very fixated on staying young and not wishing to see those smile likes or the crinkles by your eyes from smiling too much, but I find it so beautiful to know that those lines that our society has grown to hate shows that you have experienced so much that a million of poets could write about you if you had given them the chance. “Everything eats and is eaten,” is a fact and whether you think of it as sad or beautiful is completely up to your own interpretation, but I view it as more of a comforting fact that we, and all the organisms on this planet, share the same fate and are all together in loving what we can. 

4. forwards beckon rebound (Adrianne Lenker)

This is another track from the album “songs” by Adrianne Lenker that has the same folksy and gentle sound as the previous track. This song is about accepting the inner self - both the good and the ugly. To view oneself or others as a singular verb is a terrible habit we have all come to. I think it’s important to realize that people are not all bad, and they are not all good - and neither yourself. Whether you think of yourself as a good or bad person, someone will always think the opposite of it. However, to live yourself accordingly and freely is not care what other people define you as. To live your life is not acknowledge that you are a human, and accepting that everyone around you is also human and going through life for the first time too is important to accepting the mistakes you’ve made, or others have made. “Villain and violent, infant and innocent, baby, both arms cradle you now,” empathizes this idea that whether you believe yourself to be good or evil, depending on your actions, there will always be someone who loves you. That, however, will take time to find another person who views you as such. The easiest ways to approach this it to be your own arms to accept yourself as you are. You know yourself best - you should accept yourself with all your little details in your face, laugh and posture. 

5. not a lot, just forever (Adrianne Lenker)

This song is my best friend’s favorite song from Lenker. This is another love song written by Adrianne Lenker, its gentle, soft and kind and exhibits a sense of comfort. The meaning of this song is pretty straight-forward. It’s about loving someone and wishing to have forever with them, but the artist shys away from being so broad so she feels the need to say “not a lot,” as a sense of comfort for herself. She hopes that by saying this that she won’t scare away the other person, which is something I find a lot of people tend to do in relationships, especially as one begins or as one ends. Secretly hoping the other person feels the same as you is something I find so sweet in love because it’s anxious, nail biting aspect shows how much you care.

Rocket by Alex G Album Review

        There are times where one wishes to escape to some vaguely described location with words such as “woodsy” and “full of nature” in the description. I feel that there are many people who have this desire but are often too accompanied by everyday responsibilities. In our modern society, it’s become common for one to get lost in their own cycle that they forget to refresh with a breath of fresh air. That breath of fresh air can come from a multitude of places, people or things. Rocket (2016) by singer-songwriter Alex Giannascoli (Alex G) is one of those places. 

The album kicks off with the twangy-folk track Poison Root, which follows repetitive lyrics that sing “Now I know everything.” This track is accompanied with a violin which allows the listener to be transported into a different reality, where nature overcomes all else and humanity is submissive to the strength of our green Earth. Bobby, Big Fish, and Alina all share a similar dream-like Irish feel. 

Powerful Man, track 11 off the record, acts as a story. The narrator reminisces on events that make him believe that he will be a powerful man, such as in the introduction where it opens with the narrator disappointedly stating that their brother broke the law again and that he’s being sent to jail for his crime. The narrator then goes to admit that his brother is not exactly the best person, suggesting that his brother has hurt him before, but overcomes any doubt of love for his brother by singing “but a brother is a brother, and that is that.” This is the beginning of his journey to be a powerful man, as to be powerful is to be forgiving. He ends his story by describing a conversation with his lover, appreciating that his lover will always stay at his side because they know he chooses love and forgiveness, which translates to strength. 

Forgiveness is a common theme in Giannascoli’s music. However, although this theme may be persistent, he also admits his own faults and is aware of his challenges to accept the fruits of his labor. 

Tracks Guilty, Judge and Brick presents as the darker side of the paradise the album sets itself to be in. Guilty follows the narrator’s inability to be open about his own desire to just be alone, without any of the people who wish to be around him. In a way, it plays a contrasting piece to Powerful Man, as this track discusses forgiveness, family and love, while Guilty exposes another view of this theme as the narrator questions if he is who he claims to be, or if he’s “buried all the evidence of what you used to be.” The jazzy instrumental acts as a dizzy subconscious, and it makes you feel reflective upon yourself as Alex G takes you through his own mindset. 

This record takes one to an entirely different universe, as it both plays as an appreciative piece towards love, nature and forgiveness but also admitting the faults one has to accept. It’s refreshing to sit in the middle of a woodsy location that’s full of nature, but if one stays there for too long, it may become difficult to escape your own mentality. Nature acts as a reflective place, and it’s important to acknowledge and accept your own mistakes, but it’s also important to strive to be better. 

Rocket by Alex G was released in 2017 and is available on all streaming platforms.