Big Thief started in Brooklyn. It’s where Adrianne Lenker and Buck Meek reunited after Berklee, started writing music together and touring whenever possible, before the duo became a full band and signed with Saddle Creek. They recorded their debut album Masterpiece in less than two weeks.

If you listen to some of Lenker’s earlier solo recordings, it’s evident that she taps into the same place every time she writes music. It’s an intimate experience—both beautiful and lonely—which crosses over into Masterpiece, as well, and is even stronger with a full band.

The album is drenched with emotion. It begins with a sleepy tune, but the tracks that follow are way more commanding—each evoking a different feeling through all their stories of love, heartache, nostalgia, sadness. Lenker’s voice is sheer and angelic and haunting, as heard on emotional tracks like “Vegas” and “Real Love” where she sings lyrics like “Real love makes your lungs black. Real love is a heart attack.” And not only does it lure you into Big Thief’s story and all the people she sings so feverishly about, but all of their songs push back into you, stirring up your own emotions, as well—whether you wanted it to or not. Listen to the song “Paul” and you’ll especially feel it: “I was your starry-eyed lover and the one that you saw. I was your hurricane rider and the woman you’d call. We were just two moonshiners on the cusp of a breath. And I’ve been burning for you baby since the minute I left.” And just like that, the song got you.

Bowery Ballroom

1/7

8 p.m.

Openers: Sam Evian, Twain

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