It’s currently 11 PM here and I have to write a review for something that CLEARLY didn’t have much effort put into it in the first place… So this is gonna be just mostly me ranting, but yeah, I’m just waaay too tired to get fired up over a lost potential like this one here, more then mad at this I’m just dissapointed – though that implies I had any expectations for this going into this which let me clarify I didn’t. I knew exactly how this was gonna sound and I got exactly that – so maybe even disapointed isn’t the right expression I’m looking for here. No, maybe what I meant to say is that I just COULDN’T CARE LESS. And that’s coming from someone who really defended his early stuff – his 2020 effort „Ugly Is Beautiful“ is still in my opinion vastly underrated and had some of my favorite musical moments from that year on it. And while a lot of the stuff on there was a bit too generic or un-inspired, the tracks that did pop out REALLY popped the frick out. I mean songs like „Me, Myself and I“, „1993“ and „Jerk“ just to name a few still hold up to this day. And there I was, a 2020 me completely naive thinking that Oliver had a bright future ahead of him – I really wanted him to succeed you know, his meme personality combined with the killer production made for something that not many people were doing at the time – I’m not saying it was anything innovative or ground breaking or anything, but it sure made for a collection of banger songs that didn’t took themselves too seriously and weren’t afraid to go nuts with the production. Unfortunately this new album is like the polar opposite of that – these songs have nothing intresting going for them, they are bland generic pop wanna-be-country garbage that are on top of all that SUPER safe. Like these songs don’t take any risks whatsoever at any point on this album – they always stay the same and it’s so frustrating, because I really tried my best to like this album but I am so immensely bored by this thing, it puts me to sleep everytime. Some „stand-out“ tracks (if I had a gun put to my face and had to pick) would probably be the opening „Cowboys Don’t Care“, like the one passible track on here, „Things We Used To Do“ which has a nice sentiment to do, but just fails in execution and finally maybe the closer aswell as the title track „Cowboy Tears“, maybe like the only instrumentally intresting song – why wait the whole album to actually put something intresting or different on here for a change will probably forever remain a mystery, but the track is for sure one of the highlights, if you can call it that. But I mean that’s like it for the positives – the production isn’t even like offensive or even bad, it’s just so boring and uneventfull I don’t get it. It’s whatever I don’t wanna waste my time and sleeping schedule on this any longer, I am slapping a juicy Strong 3/10 on this and going to bed (probably putting this album on just to fall asleep even faster).
What the hell were you smoking when making this album name and WHERE can I get it.
Well hello there friends and welcome to this special review – this day’s review is about Big Thief’s new album „Dragon New…“ (I’m not writing all that, you read the title) and what an album it is – almost 80 minutes long and 20 whole fricking songs. I mean trust me I like me some Big Thief but for a full hour and a half? Well it’s safe to say I was a bit skeptical at first going into this, but I’ve heard some pretty positive things about, so I gave it a shot and well, I can pretty much safely say that the runtime is, for the most part, justified. Sure there are ways to cut corners here and there and yes, there is a track or two that could have been cut in it’s entirety, but in the greater scope of things, this thing just delivers. For many it may sound a bit underwhelming at first glance but further listens reveal the true beauty in the songwriting and by the end of it you realise that this is Big Thief’s most cohesive complete and fulfilling body of work to date. I’m not gonna go through ALL of the songs, just the ones that stood out to me the most, wether that means good or not so good, because there necessarrily isn’t a bad track here.
So with that out of the way, let’s get into the actual meat and potatoes of this record – the album open’s up with the at first kind of underwhelming „Change“ which is ironically a song that doesn’t really change during it’s 5 minute runtime – but as everything on this album, it’s a grower. Over time I learned to appriciate what it’s going for and learned to love it and I’m sure you will too. Definetly one of the more accesible tracks here, because believe it or not, Big Thief actually get a bit experimental on this record – case in point the next track „Time Escaping“ which sounds like some sort of ritual being performed, especially the drumwork, that’s like something out of a psychological horror movie. Probably the first track that really caught my ear on first listen, but this one kind of shrunk on me over time – it’s still fantastic and I appriciate the band’s efforts to try something new here, but it doesn’t have the same replay value as some of the other tracks I think. „Spud Infinity“ is a really goofy and dare I say wacky track, it’s really country-ish and has this weird bouncy effect at the start of the track and just the way the strings and vocals are eranged sounds just super like something I’d hear some random rednecks play from a Barn in the middle of nowhere and I mean that as a compliment belive it or not. Though innitially I was super put off by this track, just something about it rubbed me the wrong way. „Certainty“ is certainly a sweet track, though there are tracks on this album I belive that do this style much better and honestly with one of my biggest criticisms towards this album being it’s length, this one could have been easily cut I think. Still a nice moment on the album and since it as of writing this review stands as THE most popular track of the album, people seem to really enjoy it, so I digress. Anyways after this we have what I consider to be the best track of the entire album in the shape of the title track (no I’m not writing all that again) – a beautiful guitar-driven ballad with a dusty atmosphere and a deeply layered instrumentation with some beautiful and haunting vocals merge together to create one hell of a track that always leaves me utterly mezmerized by it. From here on out things get a bit all over the place – „Sparrow“ has one of the better choruses on the album but is way too long for it’s own good, „Little Things“ on the other hand is probably the only song on the album justifying it’s longer than 5-minutes runtime, it feels like the title track but with like a more punch to it – the second half of this song always blows my socks off, the guitarist can really shred let me tell you. Then you have the song „Blurred View“ probably the most „different“ song on the album – the vocals sound like they were recorded on a potato or something, yet it works somehow – the heavy bass hits with the super compressed sound of the track create this eerie atmosphere, that just, something about it is… It just feels like I’m drowning, like this track is swallowing me whole, it’s a super neat moment, that also serves as a nice middlepoint for the album – now onto the second half. Now if „Spuf Infinity“ was inspired by country in some aspects, then the song „Red Moon“ makes country it’s only aspect and it does it well. I’m not super big (pun intended) on country but I can appriciate when it’s done well and this song certainly does just that – it’s just not one of MY personal favorites. „No Reason“ has exactly that – no reason to GO SO HARD GODDAMN. The chorus hits harder then my dad’s belt and not only that, it also has a FLUTE OUTRO – I mean this song is the full package. Seriously though, great track all things considered. „Wake Me up to Drive“ is anothe one of those… Weird ones. I like the artificial drums and the burried mix, it sounds pretty solid, but I’m just stuck here wondering like…. What does this track’s existence provide to the expirience of the album? I mean sure, more variety and all that, but it’s so out of left field I still don’t know how I feel about it – it’s an okay track though, one of the tracks that stick out more on first listen for better or worse. Now I DID say that the title track is my favorite, but is it the catchiest? Well no, that award goes to „Simulation Swarm“ an absolute EARWORM that just won’t stop playing in your head – it’s just so bouncy, so full of life, it feels like it has a heartbeat man. Really dig this one, one of my absolute favorites for sure. I really love love love the next song „Love Love Love“ even though it start off like we’re already a minute into the track, I just can’t help but love the guitars on this track and the chorus while yes very repetetive does it’s job well enough – I approve of this track. The closing duo „The Only Place“ and „Blue Lightning“ are both fine, „The Only Place“ is more stripped down and lowkey with some pretty impressive guitar-plucking flexes and „Blue Lightning“ is not really my cup of tea once again, but it fits the album well enough and does it’s job as the closing track too, so I can’t really complain.
So yeah, this is what’s in my opinion the best Big Thief album – then again I only heard like 1 more, but I have a feeling that this is just their most cohesive body of work to date. I like to just put this album on and just escape reality for a hour and a half – it’s beautiful, immersive whatever else you wanna call it and yeah, I think I’m just gonna leave it with that, great record all around.
-favorite tracks: Change, Time Escaping, Spud Infinity, Certainty, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You, Sparrow, Little Things, Flowers of Blood, Blurred View, Dried Roses, No Reason, Simulation Swarm, Love Love Love, The Only Place, Heavy Bend
