Concert Review: Big Thief Steal Hearts And My Tears At Rough Trade NYC
Big Thief played Rough Trade NYC, and in between my stint of Grey Gersten 9- hour concert, I journeyed to Rough Trade to see an artist whose record, Capacity, made me cry like I was watching the ending to Forest Gump. This band goes straight for the feels, which is why I, wrongfully, assumed there concert would be an open forum for my tears. Instead, it was a more psychedelic experience.
If you read my album review, Capacity is a record to listen to its words, which could not even have a spark of life, if not for the voice of Adrianne Lenker. With a Sid Vicious vibe and do, she added a roaring nature to songs that, otherwise, are about losing your roar. From“Shark Smile” to “Mythological Beauty”, songs were dedicated to extinguishing and re-discovering your “wildness” or the aspect of you that dares to dream and make it reality. It is in that sentiment that it feels easy to cry or drop into your sadder side with Big Thief’s music and concert. I, definitely, got teary-eyed in”Mary” an “Coma”, of which I had to tell my friend it was just a random onion in front of me. Still, that is the kind of power Big Thief has as a performance that derives from the quakes and quivers adds to her vocals, which appear like ghosts begging to be seen by the living. Usually, especially with friends, we do not like to show extreme, negative emotions despite putting ourselves in such positions. Yet, like a dramatic film such as, Forest Gump, as mentioned above, a comedy, or good, horror film, certain sounds and images bring out an unadulterated, unfiltered emotion; we simply cannot pack our usual guards or facades to present to the world a stoic face. I compare Big Thief’s music more to films than fellow songs/ songwriters because they, lyrically and instrumentally, build their tracks like they are the climactic scenes in a film. From the horrible crash that kills a lover to the self-promise of a woman worn from heartache to heal again, Lenker is giving more “lead actress’ monologues” than songs.
She vocally embodies all our desires to be seen, heard, and alive, but does it with a dynamic present. Lenker contorts her face and stands on her toes, as her fellow bandmates etch out instrumentals that, on record seem softer and somber, but ,again, in the live show comes out roaring .The thematic contrast is what made their concert, for me, strangely psychedelic or mindful. Boucher played her voice and music, completely differently then what I expected, which is phenomenal. I should be blank when I go to see someone, but I am human, thus I go in willing to be “blanked” and rebuilt. While the somberness of their music was unavoidable, the exhilaration of hearing it live made their concert a giant ad saying “It’s okay to be sad. Even the most beautiful things like the sky cry in the form of rain”. For More Information On Big Thief Click Here.
