By Oonagh Ryan
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Just over a year ago, indie darlings Big Thief released their fifth studio album, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You, a winding and whimsical production that met immediate critical acclaim. The diversity of sound and subject make the album feel too big to grasp. It’s neither succinct nor satisfying; it’s like being on a road trip with old friends, and even when the jaunty melody of “Blue Lightning” dances away, there are still miles to go.
My Big Thief cherry got popped while nursing a hangover in a bed that wasn’t mine. I still remember the goosebumps from the careful beginnings of “Change.” Frontwoman Adrianne Lenker’s voice quivered over harmonies from her guitarist/ex-husband: “Could I set everything free,” then by herself, “when I watch you holding her the way you once held me?”
As with most of the album, “Change” is warm and gentle and folksy, but what people leave out of their discussion of the LP is the undercurrent of desire. The whole album is sexy as hell! Throughout Dragon…, Lenker muses about touching and being touched with lyrics as well-crafted as they are crass. I mean, try to listen to “Little Things” without blushing at her melodic moans and rhythmic breathing. Few reviews acknowledge the record’s lustful throughline but I think it’s unwise to ignore the motel room trysts of this grand road trip.
Dragon… isn’t just about sex, it particularly explores female sexuality with all its joys and burdens. The A-side flirts with themes of innocent, childlike love that’s undeniably “a little bit magic.” Its turning point is track six, “Sparrow,” which recounts the story of Eve from the perspective of a powerless onlooker. Lenker sympathizes with Eve, wishing to have “spoken to call her/ before she found fabric to shawl her/ breasts bound and burdened with fiber.” The song’s final third is a repetition of Adam’s condemnation of his counterpart: “She has the poison inside her, she talks to snakes and they guide her.” In the final echo of Adam’s admonishment, Lenker ditches the falsetto harmonies and speaks with a soft certainty. She is no longer quoting Adam, but rather acknowledging a truth.
This exploration of the Original Sin is a powerful introduction to the seductive B-side. The following four tracks are the most overtly sexual, both sonically and lyrically. Lenker scores sweaty sheet set stories with soaking reverb and an ambient sound that’s absent from the rest of the record. These songs capture the weight and ecstacy of admitting to yourself the fruit will always be poisoned. On “Flower of Blood” Lenker implores us to give in to that poison, to “feel afraid, surrender your power.” Completely giving yourself to another person means you must accept Eve’s shame. In the final moments of the sultry B-side stretch, she seems to accept the inherent burden of womanhood: “Within the last kiss I am a genesis.” We are all Eve.
To be clear, Lenker speaking about having sex is not her making a sex positive statement. She isn’t preaching some rah-rah reclamation of female sexual agency. In fact, she’s subverting the enduring second-wave feminist notion that women can and should have sex with the same lack of care that men are able to– that this is the key to reclaiming our sexual freedom. But you can’t reclaim something that never existed and pretending the fruit isn’t poisoned doesn’t mean it won’t make you sick. I’m certain that many women do feel empowered by casual sex but Lenker’s exploration of learning to accept and even embrace that innate shame offers a more nuanced, and in my opinion, more accurate understanding of female sexuality.
As “Red Moon” delivers us from this detour and rushes in a warmer, gentler side of the album, the impact of “Sparrow” is far from lost. Though less overtly, sex remains a significant subject matter in these songs and we are meant to remember the weight it carries for Lenker. Beyond that, themes of poison, blood, birds, and serpents are threaded throughout the album (“Promise is a Pendulum,” “Love Love Love,” the goddamn title track!) ensuring “Sparrow” is never far from our attention. There’s a reason it and “Little Things” were the record’s lead singles. “Little Things” details the desire for physical intimacy clashing with the inescapable shame associated while “Sparrow” is the root of the struggle. It’s this denser undercurrent that gives Dragon… its meat. Of course it’s kitschy and clever and warm but there can only be so many Spud Infinities and Simulation Swarms. The record is also incredibly intimate and feminine and heavy; to ignore this weight is to rob yourself of half the experience.
Dragon…’s charmingly folksy sendoff “Blue Lightning” doesn’t neglect this hotter, deeper, denser edge to the record. Toward the end of the song, Lenker recognizes that she can always turn to “the rattlesnake” for comfort signaling a total acceptance of and maybe even slight appreciation for the female burden born in Eden. As the album literally rattles to a close, the impact of “Sparrow” and its B-side counterparts linger.
So maybe next time you listen to Big Thief in your underwear, indulge in the full experience of Dragon… Let Lenker’s exploration of sex and love and shame take the wheel. Just sit back and enjoy the ride.
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