Big Thief share album of unreleased demos to support their road crew

Big Thief have shared a new five-track album of unreleased demos to support their road crew.

‘Demos Vol. 1 – Topanga Canyon, CA – Feb 2018’ is made up of recordings from the sessions for the band’s two 2019 albums, ‘UFOF’ and ‘Two Hands’.

• Read more: Big Thief live in London: the Brooklynites channel their inner grungers at biggest show yet

The new record features three completely unheard songs, along with two full-band reworkings of songs from vocalist Adrianne Lenker’s 2018 debut solo album ‘abysskiss’.

Announcing the album, which you can buy on Bandcamp below, the band said: “We spent the month of February 2018 in a cabin in Topanga Canyon, California, recording 34 demos that were boiled down to become UFOF and Two Hands, and we’re bringing a handful into light now to share with everyone.

“We chose 5 of our favorites – none of which appear on any Big Thief records and a couple of which appear in different forms on Adrianne’s abysskiss.

“100% of the funds we receive from this release will go to our faithful road crew, whose income has been impacted by the disruption in our touring schedule. They are the lifeblood of the Big Thief shows and we care so deeply for each and every one of them.”

Big Thief played the biggest gig of their career in London back in February. Reviewing the show at Hammersmith Apollo, NME wrote: “Big Thief play more to each other than directly to the audience, with guitarist Buck Meek facing Lenker and convulsing strangely along with their guitar interplay. Fans are invited to be voyeurs of their jam session.

“The no-frills stage design focuses attention on the musicians, whose stage presence is hypnotic.”

The band follow The National, Deftones and more in starting initiatives to help their out-of-work road crew through the coronavirus pandemic.