Listen to Two Unreleased New Outtakes from Big Thief’s Latest Album U.F.O.F.
Photo by Michael BuishasEarlier this week, Big Thief started shipping out mysterious 7”s to fans who had ordered their latest album, the stellar U.F.O.F., on vinyl via the 4AD shop. The single contained two unreleased outtakes from the album, and, as Stereogum reports, you can now check them out via unofficial rips uploaded to YouTube.
Still unnamed, the tracks are the exact quality that you’d expect from Big Thief. The 7”s A-side, dubbed “DEMO 1” in the videos, is a simmering groove built around pirouetting finger-picking and Adrianne Lenker’s sublime vocals that makes room for the interesting synth work that permeated U.F.O.F. It’s a bit more elastic than what you might find on that record, but tackles similar themes of transience and moving on.
The b-side, “DEMO 2,” is a more straightforward folk song, folding strings and subdued keys into the mix. The track sounds like a summer afternoon spent pondering your future in the lazy sunlight, with Lenker singing, “Whatever comes, whatever leaves,” with additional vocal harmonies layered in.
In our review of U.F.O.F., we wrote that “Big Thief embrace their more subtle and mystical sides while capturing a wider array of landscapes.” Listen to the similarly panoramic new tracks below, plus their 2016 Daytrotter Session. You can see where U.F.O.F. landed on our list of the best albums of the year so far here.