Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You
| Big Thief
Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You
Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You is the fifth studio album by the American band Big Thief, released as a double album through 4AD on February 11, 2022. Produced by drummer James Krivchenia, the album features 20 songs which were recorded over five months in four different locations across the United States. The album's release was preceded by eight singles. It received acclaim from critics upon release and entered the top forty in several territories, including Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland, New Zealand, the United States, and the United Kingdom. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
Show All-
PopMatters
Big Thief’s dazzling new record sees the foursome dabbling in a plethora of folk-based styles and coming out sounding like no one but themselves.
-
Pitchfork
Big Thief’s ambitious yet unburdened fifth album is a 20-song epic of kaleidoscopic invention, striking beauty, and wigged-out humor, rambling far beyond the bounds of their previous work.
-
Rolling Stone
Big Thief Just Made a Big Record That’s Worth Getting Lost In.
-
The Guardian
Stark balladry meets raucous hoedowns as the US indie rockers offer fresh highlights with every listen.
-
AV Club
Like its title, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You can be a bit much, but Big Thief still crafts the closest thing we get to timeless music these days
-
Slant Magazine
Big Thief’s Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You is more diverse and fully realized than the band’s past albums.
-
Sputnik Music
Dragon... is worlds apart from this concept: it actually feels intended to destroy our idea of what Big Thief is instead of defining it. And maybe that's the clean slate this band needed to become what they truly are: indefinable, inexplicable, completely brilliant, utterly frustrating; and above and through all of that, absolute masters of their craft.
-
Stereogum
More than anything, this is a document of four musicians with incredible chemistry. The songs rarely sound belabored, perhaps thanks to Krivchenia’s preference for first takes.
-
Beats Per Minute
It’s comforting to know that Big Thief themselves don’t quite know how they keep doing it, they’ll chalk it up to spiritual forces and not dwell on it for too long, in case it breaks the spell. Perhaps that’s why they keep restlessly moving on, ever-creating and topping themselves. It’ll be hard to outdo this 20-track masterpiece, but at this point it’s impossible to bet against them.
-
Gigwise
Both a soundtrack to a great adventure through the wilderness, or an evening of pure listening joy to experience alone.
-
The Harvard Crimson
Big Thief is capable of going anywhere. And “Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You” tracks their wondrous trajectory into interesting, unknown territory.
-
Get Alternative
Perhaps it’s a slightly sentimental take on music, or art in general, but I believe that at it’s best music is deeply life-affirming. Stories and sonic worlds that help us to transmute our own stories and emotions are one of the most powerful tools we have at our disposal to integrate and make sense of the complexities of our human experience. This is the kind of experience that Big Thief’s music can invoke if a listener is open to it.
-
The Needle Drop
This album doesn't drag on at all.
-
NME
The Brooklyn-formed band's fifth album explores a broad range of sounds, and comes filled with openness.
-
The Skinny
On their latest album, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You, Big Thief are at their most beguiling when giving in to weird experiments.
-
No Depression
Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You is, to say the least, an early candidate for album of the year. More importantly, this release is a uniquely sophisticated and signature manifesto, a bold indication that Big Thief has indeed found their perfect stride.
-
The Post
Big Thief’s new album is all over the place in the best way possible.
-
Treblezine
Listen to it on repeat, end to end, at least once, and all the interwoven elements of the album swirl together.
-
DIY Magazine
A group undoubtedly at the peak of their powers.
-
The Fire Note
There’s a lot here. In 20 tracks, Lenker and her Big Thief buddies seem committed to leave it all on the tape. But like on “Certainty,” there’s something lovely that connects is a satisfying way on tracks like “12,000 Lines,” where Meeks adds harmony to her voice, even if the bittersweet romantic longing belies their own romantic history. One may wonder if they can keep up this frantic pace, or if this happy quartet can hold all they’re about together long enough to go the distance, but with records as genuinely compelling and experimental as this, it’s enough to make you want to hope there will always be more.
-
The Line of Best Fit
Big Thief’s Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You is a worthy and momentous journey.
-
Louder Than War
Big Thief stretch themselves further than ever before on their remarkable new album.
-
Spectrum Culture
On their fearless double album Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You, Big Thief let go of all inhibitions and intentionality in order to grasp their place in the universe. They’ve never felt closer to finding it.
-
Glide Magazine
With this album, Big Thief have crafted their own modern songbook. These songs and recordings feel timeless; breathing with continuous life but open to change and reinterpretation (even for the band, as seen in this markedly different take on the title track they performed on tour last Fall (below), while still being an undeniable product of the chemistry these four musicians share. They know when to rise up and let it all come out just as keenly as they know when to fall back into the simplest accompaniment, always working in service of the songs, even when that means pulling out completely and letting Lenkerer and her guitar fill the space.
-
The Irish Times
In a way, much of the record is marked by a sense of the open road. Sometimes it meanders, as on Time Escaping and Promise is a Pendulum, but more often than not it lives in clarity. Change, a song Lenker has said is like her seven-year-old self meeting her older self along the way, is a poetic dance of a composition, and that “dance” winds its way to a sense of euphoria on Little Things, and wispiness on Heavy Bend. Simulation Swarm is a standout – immersive and rich, it is disarmingly charming, as much of this record is.
-
Commedia
There’s a little bit of everything in this album, yet one thing remains the same, and that would be the emotionality and charm of what each song has to say. Although Big Thief was halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the group remained undeterred; this newest addition to their discography being proof of that.
-
Northern Transmissions
Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You is an album that keeps on giving, from a band that does the same and asks for nothing in return but to be appreciated as the thoughtful artists they always have been. It’s an album for all occasions that also feels perfect for here and now. Will their next album top it? Perhaps, but Big Thief don’t sound worried about competing with anyone, let alone themselves.
-
The New Yorker
“Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You,” is boundless and scenic, pushing well past acoustic folk rock and deep into Americana. The sprawling music is guided by Lenker’s unassuming, enchanted voice and her quiet, self-contained narratives.
-
Exclaim!
Big Thief's 'Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You' Is Their Grandest Masterpiece Yet.
-
Under the Radar Magazine
Whether Lenker is singing of life, death, sex, aliens, potatoes, or taking her revenge on a skillet of onions that made her cry, it all comes as naturally and organically as the band has always had a mastery for. If Dragon ends up being a fan favorite just for the fact that it has the most songs, the most sounds, and the ability to make you notice a new favorite each time through, that’s a perfectly fine way to view it.
-
The Ringer
‘Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You’ can be a lot to get a handle on, but it’s as rewarding as anything in the band’s deep oeuvre.
-
I Am Tuned Up
Overall this album is another stunning musical and lyrical achievement. With the use of guitar pedals and layering they produced a fuller and more complex sound than in previous albums. Adrianne Lenker, the lead singer and songwriter of the band, pushes structural boundaries with her writing. She creates emotional works through seemingly nonsensical imagery. The lyrics in this album are full of fragility, self-love, comfort and care. She teaches listeners to expect the weird, because she’s not afraid to take risks as a songwriter. Big Thief walks so that other indie-folk artists can run.
-
Our Culture
In Lenker’s writing, aloneness is a universal condition, maybe even an inevitable destination, and Big Thief have never made it feel so infinite and timeless as on Dragon. It’s something to share and find your way around, with fear and love, forever and now. Read more: Album Review: Big Thief, 'Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You' - Our Culture https://ourculturemag.com/2022/02/14/album-review-big-thief-dragon-new-warm-mountain-i-believe-in-you
-
Spin
It’s a record of self-discovery, for both Big Thief and their audience — a tremendous listen for all seasons, which may be necessary to feel the project’s full weight. And despite its recording calculations, Big Thief’s latest album is truly a celebration of spontaneity. It is unencumbered. It is free.
Rate This Album and Leave Your Comments