Big Thief: 2017

Over the past couple of years, Big Thief, with its rare, quiet force, has rapidly gained a passionate and devoted fanbase. The band was recently named one of three artists featured by the NPR Slingshot project. Seemingly coming out of nowhere last year with its critically hailed and aptly titled debut, Masterpiece, the band has already taken a quantum leap on its quickly recorded and also aptly named second album, Capacity.

When Big Thief’s primary songwriter and frontwoman, Adrianne Lenker, returned to WFUV, she came with a soft-spoken idea: she wanted to play three songs, uninterrupted. Two are included on the incredible and at times gut-wrenching new album, Capacity. The third song, "Black Flowers," is a previously unreleased song which was written during the Masterpiece sessions. Lenker explained that the three songs belong together, but had never been played back-to-back before. It was obvious that we were about to capture something special.

Indeed, Lenker's solo performance in Studio A provided a rare and intimate glimpse of the vulnerability she wields in powerful ways. Our FUV Live session began with the triad of songs, followed by our conversation.

[recorded: 9/12/17]