Adrianne Lenker’s Force Devastates Norms and Doesn’t Follow Scripts
“It’s not the energy reeling
Nor the lines in your face
Nor the clouds on the ceiling
Nor the clouds in space
It’s not the phone on the table
Nor the bed in the earth
Nor the bed in the stable
Nor your stable words
It’s not the formless being
Nor the cry in the air
Nor the boy I’m seeing
With her long black hair
It’s not the open weaving
Nor the furnace glow
Nor the blood of you bleeding
As you try to let go”
Force. Massive, powerful organic force that’s not afraid.
You rarely come across a singer, artist and writer with raw force similar to Adrianne Lenker. She possesses the power to write brutal songs and lyrics that are intimately spiritual creations all their own. She has a gift, and she knows how to use it for good.
Tracing her, and the indie band’s, evolution as a lead singer is beautiful. Guitarist Buck Meek portrays a strong, steady presence next to her in their first performance on NPR’s Tiny Desk. He delicately moves in and out of songs to softly compliment the fire of Lenker. He weaves guitar rifts intricately in a way only hecould. Meek knows exactly when rip out a guitar solo and just stand back in awe of Lenker.
Listen to their masterful performance below.
She moved around endlessly throughout childhood, due to instability of her parents and their faith. Through it all, her musical gift persevered and led her to the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she met Meek. They then met again in Brooklyn New York and formed Big Thief together with James Krivchenia and Max Oleartchik. In 2016, they released Masterpiece that featured a song called “Parallels,” foreshadowing the band’s potential to create rock anthems like “Not.”
But most definitely, the track Masterpiece showed off Lenker’s force and the connection with Meek. It’s by far one of the band’s most complete works of art. See the undeniable force of Lenker and Meek early on in 2017 below.
Lenker and Big Thief didn’t stop playing or making music. Subsequent albums in 2017, 2018 (2), 2019 and then most recently Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You in 2022 have shown that this is a band that withstands time. Lenker dove into solo work as well as Meek. Both releasing stellar albums separate from Big Thief that showed the musicians and artists they truly are.
Photo by Paul Hudson
“Change, like the wind
Like the water, like skin
Change, like the sky
Like the leaves, like a butterfly
Would you live forever, never die
While everything around passes?
Would you smile forever, never cry
While everything you know passes?”
This band’s arc isn’t over. Max Oleartchik recently left the band, but the band just completed a European tour in August. Let’s hope for more music from Big Thief. Adrianne Lenker begins a tour in November that starts in Northhampton, MA, through Canada and ends in Philadelphia. Go catch her live when you can.
To remember Oleartchik and the founding members of Big Thief, check out the performance below. You see the band and the members truly as they are in this performance. It’s beautiful and to be watched over and over again.