Adrianne Lenker (guitar, vocals), Buck Meek (guitar), Max Oleartchik (bass), and James Krivchenia (drums) are Big Thief, a New York-based indie folk/rock band that in their new album U.F.O.F. have made their own rules in crafting evocative guitar lines, pulsating rhythm sections and oh-so painfully direct lyrics.

The album in question is unattached from their past discography both technically and lyrically and actually released in a new label, 4ad, after the previous two were released in Saddle Creek. U.FO.F. is different because this time, Lenker´s vocals are less precise, they have more penchant to variation and so do her lyrics. Musically, the album excels at creating folk melodies that stand out like a glowing figure amidst a foggy road. 

First example is the title track, it starts with arpeggiated guitar that sounds like a cascade before giving in to Adrianne´s subtle whisper. The song maintains a steady rhythm throughout, achieveing a dreamy state that just keeps you floating until the end. This doesn’t distract you from the lyrics, in which Lenker sings: ‘To my UFO friend, goodbye, goodbye/Like a seed in the wind, she’s taking up root in the sky’, talking about the other, the thing beyond ourselves that we don’t understand and still need to embrace. 

In the album Adrianne Lenker’s lyrics drift between stories of love and loss, beautiful descrpitions of colors, scenarios and sensations and her deft ability to describe life as she sees it. In ‘Orange’, the only song in the album where is just her voice and acoustic guitar, Lenker sings in a completely naked tone: ‘Orange is the color of my love/fragile orange wind  in the garden/fragil means I can hear her flesh’ describing a feeling of loving someone that probably doesn’t loves her back and the chorus reaffirms the fragilty of the relationship: ‘Lies, lies, lies/lies in her eyes’. 

The experimental traits of the album are evident in the explosive guitar at the coda of opener ‘Contact’, the up-tempo ‘Stranger’ and the shoegaze-influenced ‘Jenni’ one of the many highlights of the album, specially when Lenker gives in to the chorus and sings: ‘Jenni’s in my room’ with wonder for something so unexpected, drenched in guitar feedback and pulsating drums in a dreamy rhythm. My favorite track in the record is ‘Century’, an acoustic melody were Adrianne Lenker’s voice is sweet, Meek’s guitar gentle and Krivchenia’s drums create a subtle, kind of blurry background. Is enough to feel the chills with the melody of the verse when Lenker sings: ‘Dogs eyes in the headlights of the driveway/Cool autumn rain’, a description so accurate of that scenario that is difficult not to picture it instantly. There’s also that tiny little guitar melody (solo?) at the end and how Lenker reassures her lover ‘..But stay another hour/’Cause we have the same power’ by the final chorus. It all adds up to a beautiful moment in the middle of the album.

In U.F.O.F., Big Thief have crafted an album that focus on sound and emotion, but that doesn’t lose track of rhythm and melody, and Lenker uses her voice to portray a sense of longing, one that no matter how sparse and straightforward the album can seem permeates every note and track here. Overall this is one of the best folk releases I’ve heard in a while and Big Thief’s most sharp and poignant effort. The future of this band couldn’t look brighter, (despite all the mistiness).