Review: Big Thief "Incomprehensible"

With a mystical implosion of sound, Big Thief pulls us once again into their ever-expanding sonic universe. Their new single, "Incomprehensible," is a grounded piece that explores themes of nature and aging. Long familiar to fans as a raw, acoustic staple of their live shows, but the full production has elevated the soundscape, giving it a larger presence. On the same day the single was dropped, they announced a new album: Double Infinity. Coming out on September 5th, the band excitedly announced the news on Instagram with a heartfelt caption and candid photos of the creative team in the recording studio. They write:

“We (James, Buck, & Adrianne) spent the last couple of years gathering songs, then asked our friends to join us in bringing the songs to life, and then whittled it down to the nine in this batch...We played our hearts out with our friends in that room, and thankfully it was recorded. What a gift! We’re so proud and excited to be part of this and to share with you all!”

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In the single, Adrianne Lenker brings her songwriting prowess to the forefront with a colorful picture of flora and fauna. The image of driving down Ontario’s Highway 17 is crystal clear, and the loaded instrumentation that cradles Lenker’s delicate voice has the driving force of a car flying down the tree-lined road. Lenker mentions two areas in particular: Thunder Bay and Old Woman Bay. As she describes her route, her words are in motion as we join her on a picturesque drive.

“Highway 17, cotton candy rain / Driving with my lover, we missed our plane / So we added on the hours to see the lupine flowers / Way out past the border, we blew through Thunder Bay”

Photo Credit: Paul Hudson via Flickr

A deeper rumination on life appears in the later verses. We drift effortlessly from the vast, awe-inspiring Canadian landscapes into a tender meditation on aging, specifically the experience of aging as a woman. She mentions the mindset that has been pushed on women from a young age: the idea that once we start to wrinkle and sag, we lose our beauty. Lenker points to the fear that’s been instilled in women; the debilitating fear of time and the way our bodies change as we grow older. Society conflates aging with loss, but Lenker gently challenges the narrative. She encourages us to embrace how we change and remember that a number is simply a number.

“My mother and my grandma, my great-grandmother too / Wrinkle like the river, sweeten like the dew / And as silver as the rainbow scales that shimmer purple blue / How can beauty that is living be anything but true?”

In one of the song’s most poignant verses, Lenker praises the women who came before her. She returns to the imagery of nature, weaving in the characteristics of growing old with the natural details of the earth. She brings together the earth and humanity as one, reminding listeners of the beauty in nature and the beauty in ourselves. Nature is constantly in flux. The trees continue to reach towards the sky, and so must we.

“Let me be,” Lenker says, “Incomprehensible, let me be.”

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