Big Thief Share Jangly U.F.O.F. Single "Cattails"

Brooklyn indie-folk quartet Big Thief are releasing their third studio record and first for 4AD, U.F.O.F., next month. Today, they’ve shared the second single off the album, the rootsy jangler “Cattails.” 

Frontperson Adrienne Lenker says this about the song:

"'Cattails' came about while we were at the studio in Washington in the pine forest. Writing it was just one of those electric multicolored waves of connectivity just sweeping through my body. I stayed up late finishing the song and the next morning was stomping around playing it over and over again. We thought why not just record it, so James sat at the drums and we practiced and by the time we’d finished practicing, Dom Monks—our engineer—had already sneakily set up mics and recorded it.

"It was beautiful that he’d captured it right away because when James and I were playing it felt like a little portal in the fabric had opened and we were just flying. Listening back to it makes me cry sometimes."

The Washington studio Lenker is referring to is Woodinville’s Bear Creek Studios. They’ll be back in Washington on Saturday, October 26 to play the Moore Theatre.

For their North American tour, Big Thief is partnering with Plus1 to donate $1 from each U.S. ticket sold to SAEF, Little Kids Rock and Youth Speaks, while the same portion of Canadian ticket sales will benefit DANS LA RUE, Sketch and UNYA.

U.F.O.F. follows 2017's Capacity. Last year, Big Thief put out a 30-minute sound collage called Wide Winged Bird while Lenker released her second solo full-length, Abysskiss, and guitarist Buck Meek unveiled his debut self-titled record.

Listen to “Cattails” and watch Big Thief’s KEXP in-studio performance from 2017 below.