Big Thief Announce Third Album U.F.O.F., Share Title Track

Brooklyn’s Big Thief have announced their third album, U.F.O.F., the details of which touched down Tuesday alongside its lead single and title track, as well as the band’s new batch of North American tour dates. The quartet’s new LP will be their first for 4AD, who will release it on May 3.

Big Thief—Adrianne Lenker (guitar, vocals), Buck Meek (guitar), Max Oleartchik (bass) and James Krivchenia (drums)—road-tested their U.F.O.F. tracks while touring for the past four years. They recorded the album at Bear Creek Studios in rural western Washington state, and tracked it live with engineer Dom Monks and producer Andrew Sarlo, who also worked on their previous albums, 2016’s Masterpiece and 2017’s Capacity.

The band’s characteristically gorgeous new single “UFOF,” meanwhile, finds Lenker bidding a hushed farewell to a strange but not unwelcome visitor: “To my UFO friend, goodbye, goodbye / like a seed in the wind, she’s taking up root in the sky,” she sings, considering the connections between the cosmic and the earthly, the supernatural and natural. There’s an evanescence to Lenker’s lyrics (“Just like a bad dream / you’ll disappear”) that matches the track’s fleeting beauty—its rolling, fingerpicked guitars and tender rhythm section are here and gone, like a passing shadow.

“Making friends with the unknown … All my songs are about this,” says Lenker of the band’s new material. “If the nature of life is change and impermanence, I’d rather be uncomfortably awake in that truth than lost in denial.”

Big Thief are partnering with Plus1 for their upcoming North American tour stops, with $1 from each U.S. ticket sold benefitting SAEF, Little Kids Rock and Youth Speaks, while the same portion of Canadian ticket sales will benefit DANS LA RUE, Sketch and UNYA.

Listen to “UFOF” and revisit Big Thief’s 2016 Daytrotter Session below. You’ll find the details of U.F.O.F. and the band’s tour dates further down. You can preorder their new album here.

U.F.O.F. Tracklist:
01. Contact
02. UFOF
03. Cattails
04. From
05. Open Desert
06. Orange
07. Century
08. Strange
09. Betsy
10. Terminal Paradise
11. Jenni
12. Magic Dealer

U.F.O.F. Album Art:

Big Thief Tour Dates:

April
20 – San Diego, Calif. @ Irenic

May
02 – Los Angeles, Calif. @ The Fonda Theatre
03 – Los Angeles, Calif. @ The Bootleg Theater
05 – Brooklyn, N.Y. @ Elsewhere
18 – Leeds, U.K. @ Brudenell Social Club (SOLD OUT)
19 – Glasgow, U.K. @ SWG3
21 – Dublin, Ireland @ Vicar Street
22 – Manchester, U.K. @ The Ritz
23 – London, U.K. @ Roundhouse
24 – Bristol, U.K. @ SWX
26 – Cambridge, U.K. @ Cambridge Junction
27 – Paris, France @ Trabendo
28 – Brussels, Belgium @ Orangerie
30 – Barcelona, Spain @ Primavera Sound
31 – Nîmes, France @ This Is Not a Love Song Festival

June
02 – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Best Kept Secret
03-06 – Marina Di Ravenna, Italy @ Beaches Brew Festival
03 – Berlin, Germany @ Lido
04 – Zurich, Switzerland @ Bogen F
08 – Porto, Portugal @ NOS Privaera Sound

August
06-10 – Oslo, Norway @ Oya Festival
08 – Copenhagen, Denmark @ Lille Vega
15-18 – Wales, U.K @ Green Man Festival
16 – Hasselt, Belgium @ Pukkelpop Festival

October
10 – New York, N.Y. @ Webster Hall
11 – New York, N.Y. @ Webster Hall
12 – South Burlington, Vt. @ Higher Ground
13 – Boston, Mass. @ Wilbur Theatre
15 – Montreal, Que. @ La Tulipe
16 – Toronto, Ont. @ Phoenix Concert Theatre
18 – Chicago, Ill. @ Metro
21 – Minneapolis, Minn. @ First Avenue
24 – Portland, Ore. @ Crystal Ballroom
25 – Vancouver, B.C. @ Vogue Theatre
26 – Seattle, Wash. @ Moore Theatre
28 – San Francisco, Calif. @ The Fillmore

November
01 – Phoenix, Ariz. @ Crescent Ballroom
02 – Albuquerque, N.M. @ Sister
04 – Austin, Texas @ Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheatre
05 – Dallas, Texas @ Trees
07 – Atlanta, Ga. @ Variety Playhouse
08 – Saxapahaw, N.C. @ Haw River Ballroom
09 – Philadelphia, Pa. @ Union Transfer
10 – Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club