Not long after the indie folk-rock band Big Thief parted ways with its bassist in 2024, the remaining members gathered out in the New England countryside to start work on their first album without him.

“We tried to record just as a trio in the woods, but we were feeling a little stuck in that arrangement,” says guitarist Buck Meek, who with singer-guitarist Adrianne Lenker and drummer James Krivchenia had formed Big Thief with the now-departed bassist Max Oleartchik in 2015.

“I think it was mostly just kind of emotional, going through the transition with Max,” he says of parting ways with Oleartchik due to what the announcement of his departure called “interpersonal reasons.”

“Feeling like we were still processing that, and being in a vacuum, just the three of us, felt like a bit of

See Full Page