Big Thief has released the second single from their upcoming album U.F.O.F., due out on May 3. In form, “Cattails” is a catchy, circular folk song driven by acoustic guitar and drums, with a plaintive melody reminiscent of Michael Hurley. The arrangement slowly gains density with the help of a cascading piano, becoming increasingly atmospheric, and the song begins to lose its center of gravity. Lead singer-songwriter Adrianne Lenker described the genesis of the song in a statement:
“Cattails” came about while we were at the studio in Washington in the pine forest. Writing it was just one of those electric multicolored waves of connectivity just sweeping through my body. I stayed up late finishing the song and the next morning was stomping around playing it over and over again. We thought why not just record it, so James sat at the drums and we practiced and by the time we’d finished practicing, Dom Monks – our engineer – had already sneakily set up mics and recorded it. It was beautiful that he’d captured it right away because when James and I were playing it felt like a little portal in the fabric had opened and we were just flying. Listening back to it makes me cry sometimes.
The band has also added four dates to their upcoming tour. Big Thief’s last album was 2017’s Capacity, and band members Lenker and Buck Meek both released solo albums last year. Listen to “Cattails,” and see the band’s newly added tour dates, below.
Thu. Oct. 17 – Detroit, MI @ Majestic Theatre
Sat. Oct. 19 – Madison, WI @ The Sylvee
Wed. Oct. 30 – Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory
Mon. Nov. 11 – Columbus, OH @ The Athenaeum Theatre
