30 miles west of El Paso, surrounded by 3,000 acres of pecan orchards and only a stone’s throw from the Mexican border, the band Big Thief (a.k.a. Adrianne Lenker, Buck Meek, Max Oleartchik, and James Krivchenia) set up their instruments as close together as possible to capture their most important collection of songs yet. The band had only just finished work on their 3rd album, U.F.O.F. -“the celestial twin”- days before in a cabin studio in the woods of Washington State. Now it was time to birth U.F.O.F.’s sister album -“the earth twin”- Two Hands. 

In sharp contrast to the wet environment of the U.F.O.F. session, the southwestern Sonic Ranch studio was chosen for its vast desert location. The 105-degree weather boiled away any clinging memories of the green trees and wet air of the previous session. Two Hands had to be completely different— an album about the Earth and the bones beneath it. The songs were recorded live with almost no overdubs. All but two songs feature entirely live vocal takes, leaving Adrianne’s voice suspended above the mix in dry air, raw and vulnerable as ever. Where U.F.O.F. layered mysterious sounds and effects for levitation, Two Hands grounds itself on dried-out, cracked desert dirt. 

Anybody who has borne witness to Big Thief in the wild will find songs they recognize here. Much of the album’s tracks (“The Toy”, “Those Girls”, “Shoulders”, “Not”, “Cut My Hair”) have been live staples for years. “Two Hands has the songs that I’m the most proud of; I can imagine myself singing them when I’m old,” says Adrianne. “Musically and lyrically, you can’t break it down much further than this. It’s already bare-bones.” 

Lyrically this can be felt in the poetic blur of the internal and external. These are political songs without political language. They explore the collective wounds of our Earth. Abstractions of the personal hint at war, environmental destruction, and the traumas that fuel it. Lyrics like “And the blood of the man who killed my mother with his hands is in me/ it’s in me/ in my veins” are genuine attempts to point the listener towards the very real dangers that face our mother planet. When Adrianne sings “Please wake up,” she’s talking directly to the audience. “Attention is power,” she says. “I believe you can manifest something on the other side of the world just by using your power well.” 

Engineer Dom Monks and producer Andrew Sarlo, who were both behind U.F.O.F., capture the live energy as instinctually and honestly as possible. Sarlo teamed up with James Krivchenia to mix the album, where they sought to emphasize raw power and direct energy inherent in the takes. The journey of a song from the stage to the record is often a difficult one. Big Thief’s advantage is their bond and loving center as a chosen family. They spend almost 100% of their lives together working towards a sound that they all agree upon. A band with this level of togetherness is increasingly uncommon. If you ask drummer James Krivchenia, bassist Max Oleartchik or guitarist Buck Meek how they write their parts, they will describe—passionately—the experience of hearing Adrianne present a new song, listening intently for hints of parts that already exist in the ether and the undertones to draw out with their respective instruments. It is an honor to give life to these intricacies. 

With raw power and intimacy, Two Hands folds itself gracefully into Big Thief’s impressive discography. This body of work grows deeper and more inspiring with each new album. While you listen, let your own two hands rest in front of your body with palms facing inward and see what power grows between them.

Weathervane Music is a non-profit organization that supports independent music and the community that surrounds it. 

Music comes from Shaking Through, our acclaimed documentary series about the art and science of recording music. 

Tracks are available for members to remix. More information here: http://weathervanemusic.org/membership 

Rosali is the solo incarnation of Philadelphia-based musician Rosali Middleman. Through songwriting and performances, Rosali shares resonant emotions and the authenticity of being, unveiling herself to connect with broad audiences. Rosali’s songwriting realizes life as rich and alluring melodies within the framework of traditional popular songwriting. Her 2016 debut album, Out of Love (Siltbreeze), shimmers with open expression. The ten songs on Out of Love weave intimate words, strong melodic and rhythmic structures, and mellifluous singing while hanging onto the free nature of the songs’ origins. Her music is all at once ethereal, familiar, unearthing, and expansive. Rosali’s full band, Rosali & the Middlemen, is a natural expansion of her psychedelic and enveloping sound. Out of Love was one of Uncut Magazine’s top 100 records of 2016, and Magnet Magazine hailed the debut as essential new music.

Rosali’s forthcoming album, Trouble Anyway, out on June 8 via Spinster Sounds, expands her tonal register. With amplified purpose, Rosali furthers her explorative singing into renewed maturity. Sharing openly on love, power, aging, suffering, confusion, self-doubt and anger, the collection of songs on Trouble Anyway embody the universality of human nature. A vulnerable force, they are a woman rising and in flight.
 
Lyrical and wordless intensity, alongside intuitive musical arrangements, make for a powerful sophomore release. With collaborations from musician friends—Nathan Bowles (Steve Gunn, Black Twig Pickers), Dan Provenzano (Writhing Squares, Purling Hiss), Mary Lattimore, Paul Sukeena (Angel Olsen, Spacin’), Charlie Hall (The War on Drugs), Mike Polizze (Purling Hiss), Mike Sobel (Oldermost), and Gretchen Lohse (Carol Cleveland Sings)—Trouble Anyway is both otherworldly and straight-forward. The collective instrumentation simultaneously accentuates Rosali’s singular sound and magnifies its orbit. Trouble Anyway was recorded and mixed by Uniform Recording’s Jeff Zeigler, who has also engineered records for The War on Drugs, Allison Crutchfield (also of Waxahatchee), and Kurt Vile, among others.

You can also see Rosali as guitarist for Philadelphia trio, Long Hots.

Jesse Hale Moore is a solo musician making lush pop sounds in Philadelphia.

Gianmarco Cilli is a Philadelphia based singer and multi-instrumentalist who has played with National Eye, Windsor For The Derby, and The Silver Ages. His upcoming album, The Feel Is Now, is out on September 27, 2019 and features Charlie Hall and Dave Hartley of The War On Drugs, Zach Miller of Dr Dog, James Lavino, and was engineered, mixed, and co-produced by Nick Krill.

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