REVIEW: Big Thief - Double Infinity

Swallow poison, swallow sugar, sometimes they taste the same

42:49 // September 5, 2025 // 4AD

While it’s fair to say that Big Thief have managed to ascend to the top of the indie landscape after years of being an act seemingly destined to remain “awesome yet underappreciated”, I don’t particularly envy the position they find themselves in with the release of Double Infinity. Following up on Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You, both the band’s burst into the stratosphere of underground popularity and a ramshackle double album filled to the brim with every kind of sound Big Thief has ever played around with, was never gonna be easy. Add to the equation the fact that recent years have seen Adrianne Lenker’s solo career burgeon into prominence (and to a lesser extent, Buck Meek’s), and the fact the group is down a founding member (bassist Max Oleartchik) since the last record, and you see an album swept up in a whirlwind of sky-high expectations, sweeping change, and notable distractions.

It seems clear from recent interviews with the band members that some of this aimlessness filtered into their creative process - Double Infinity was originally intended to be a heavier rock album than the usual Big Thief output, it was to be recorded in rural isolation, some hundred or so songs were scanned for inclusion… In the end, though, the resulting album is a comparatively gentle offering, recorded in a New York City winter, and relatively sparse (these nine tracks in less than forty-three minutes feeling lightning-quick compared to its sprawling predecessor).

All told, the finished product just works, though. Double Infinity probably doesn’t have the horsepower to quite go song-to-song with Dragon Warm Mountain I Believe In You, or previous standout U.F.O.F., or perhaps even Two Hands for that matter, but it’s self-evidently excellent all the same - the sound of three remaining band members coming together with a host of collaborators to have an exceptional friendly neighborhood jam session. Even more importantly, the album manages to congeal into a coherent atmosphere - cosmic, thoughtful, obsessed with cyclical rhythms of time and life itself.

Opener “Incomprehensible” is a clear representation of this - there’s something about it which manages to feel both loud and soothing, and its discussion of aging exudes wisdom without feeling preachy. “All Night All Day” is a softer track, but truly excels - its lyrics may be remarkably raunchy by this band’s standards, but comes across as transcendently profound, married to a melody which feels like you’ve always known it. Later, longer tracks like “No Fear” and “Grandmother” are ineffably chill but built into undulating structures which mirror the overarching themes of growth and decay.

If most of the album ends up being a conventional Big Thief sound but moved more in the direction of warm psychedelia, there are a few outliers - “Words” feels like a partner track to the opener, but weirder and more mystical, while closer “How Could I Have Known” ends the album in the style of a weepy countrified ballad - it’s a fairly simple but immensely touching number, and could’ve easily been sung by Neil Young decades ago without an eyebrow being raised. Penultimate track “Happy With You” is perhaps the only weak link - while rather infectious, it’s a bit too repetitive in a fairly uncompelling way.

You could make a decent case that Double Infinity is Big Thief’s weakest album to date (although I think it might narrowly surpass Capacity in quality and possibly Masterpiece as well) - despite being concise, it’s not (quite) all killer no filler, the number of all-timer tunes is fairly low as well. It’s still a winner, though - the bar is quite high for Big Thief, and this remains an excellent indie album. If nothing else, the group has embarked upon a release with the potential as the perfect storm for disappointment and instead crafted another rock-solid full-length. Love and loss, joy and sorrow, the circle turns forever, these songs tell us, and the message is delivered in a beautiful and comforting way.I might not be listening to Double Infinity quite all night and all day, but it’ll get some quality time on my speakers for sure.

8/10