Two Hands
A dry, dust-caked collection of live-in-studio rock and folk. Recorded in the Texas desert, it is a raw, physical counterpart to the band's softer dream-folk.
A dry, dust-caked collection of live-in-studio rock and folk. Recorded in the Texas desert, it is a raw, physical counterpart to the band's softer dream-folk.
Earth twin
Dry desert heat radiates from these ten tracks, recorded live in a sweaty Texas cabin just days after their previous session. The guitars scrape like gravel underfoot, and the vocals feel so close you can hear the singer's throat catch before the high notes. It is a bruised, physical collection of folk-rock that trades lush studio magic for the dust and grit of a room.
The band trades their usual lush, forested backdrops for a sun-baked desert atmosphere that bakes a dry, dust-caked heat directly into the marrow of these songs.
Critics warmly received the album's raw, organic production and its balance of quiet intimacy with powerful, honest songwriting. While some reviewers felt its occasional imperfections kept the record from sounding entirely polished, most agreed that these unrefined qualities only enhanced its vibrant and deeply human feel.
“The second landmark album this year from Big Thief is raw, tactile, and essential. The intimate songs zoom in on a band that feels, at this moment, totally invincible”Read review
“Two Hands is a good album, albeit one labouring under a slight sense of anticlimax given what has gone before. What could have been if they had stylistically mixed both albums together? We may not ever know, but it sets up massive anticipation of what could be coming next”Read review
“Once again, its hushed songs, lit up by Adrianne Lenker’s spellbinding voice, only gradually reveal the subtle hooks at their kernels”Read review
“Be it the transcendent nature of so many of their songs or Lenker’s spellbinding authenticity, listening to Big Thief is an otherworldly experience, and ‘Two Hands’ is stunning”Read review
“It’s astonishing just how alive this album feels”Read review
“The album is a portrait of the band’s skills as musicians, a document of a group hitting its stride”Read review
“This ‘earth twin’ album to their ‘celestial twin’ UFOF, released in May, foregrounds Adrianne Lenker’s arresting voice and tender/brutal lyrics”Read review
“The songs flow together and were purposely linked without pauses. This is an arid record purposely made in the desert with an audible dryness and shimmer to the sound”Read review
“A record that taps into an elemental fury, connecting the deeply personal with the universal”Read review
“Who else puts out two studio albums in one calendar year without an obligatory dip in quality?”Read review
“While it’s hard to talk about Two Hands in 2019 without the context of the stunning U.F.O.F., the album’s quality stands on its own, offering its own grade of intimacy, sound, and feel for alternate moods”Read review
“Two Hands is a great record, and a stunning artistic accomplishment – a reminder if you needed one that this is Lenker’s THIRD album in twelve months – but it’s also devilishly clever in that it isn’t a perfect album. If it was, they’d have nowhere to go on the next one”Read review
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