Review: Double Infinity

Big Thief ’s long awaited sixth album “Double Infinity” dropped on Sept. 5 and hasfans full of excitement. This album addresses tough topics such as self harm, toxic relationships, low self esteem, one sided love and eternal longing.

The most popular songs are those with a good melody and that convey emotion. Big Thief conveys emotions through music precisely by changing their pitch and aggressiveness as they play to match their lead vocalist Adrianne Lenker’s emotions throughoutthe song. This is refreshing as it isn’t very common in the modern music industry.

The song “Words” is one of the most emotional songs that focuses on communication: how sometimes it’s beneficial and promotes reconciliation while it can also be used to manipulate and break down. With this song, the band changes tempo continuously to convey Lenker’s emotions as she sings. The song starts off slow and remains that way when Lenker sings about the benefits of communication, but at the end she begins to scream the lyrics as the melody and beat of the song become more aggressive.

The expression through the music was helpful because some of the song’s lyrical analogies and the meaning are hard to understand without looking them up. This album excels in musical expression in the song “Not” where Lenker’s passionate lyrics and tone make listeners feel like they are physically experiencing the song. However, the lyrics are often repetitive which made the album somewhat boring.

For example, in the song “Happy with You,” the line “Happy with you” is repeated 38 times, 18 of those back to back during the chorus. The repetition makes the song less enjoyable and memorable. Ironically, the song that was most disappointing and had the most repetition and minimal music expression was the title track “Double Infinity.” The melody of this song is bland and the chorus is repeated continuously, making the song itself seem like a never-ending loop.

“Double Infinity” makes the listeners feel as if they are experiencing the same emotions as the artist. Repetitive lyrics are common amongst the songs, however, the imagery and tone that the music provides grasps the fans attention and makes the songs more authentic and enjoyable. The experiences that Lenker writes songs about could help others with similar experiences and emotions feel heard and allow the audience to understand her life and mindset.