“Double Infinity,” the latest release from the indie rock band Big Thief, marks the band’s first album following the departure of bassist Max Oleartchick. Throughout nine tracks that span almost 45 minutes, the record explores themes of time, memory, and transformation. The album features contributions from a wide range of collaborators, such as Laraaji, Mikey Buishas, and Alena Spanger, which expands the group’s sound, all while maintaining the intimate core that defines the band.
While previous Big Thief albums, such as “Masterpiece” or “Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You,” created atmospheres that felt effortless and melancholy, “Double Infinity” carries a different emotional weight. Nolan Parker, the Portland Mercury’s music editor, described “Double Infinity” as “accessible to different states of mind,” further saying, “If I’m feeling this way, I’ll put on ‘Los Angeles.’ But if I’m feeling a different way, I’ll put on ‘No Fear.’” This strengthens the idea that “Double Infinity” is an album for echoing emotional complexities and pursuing ambient sounds rather than one that writes a new story for each track.
“Incomprehensible” was the first single, which came out on June 3, 2025, and opens the album with a blend of nostalgia and movement. The first verse starts with imagery that pulls the listener into roadtrips, delayed flights, and landscapes that are both expressive and gentle. Vocalist Adrianne Lenker reflects on childhood and the ever-present passage of time with lyrics like “Travelin’ with some stuff I left when I was a kid / Mr. Bear and the wooden box I hid / Full of broken gadgets that mean nothin’ now.” The refrain, “Incomprehensible, let me be,” leaves the song resting in openness rather than closure, a mood that carries seamlessly into the following song, “Words.”
“Words” begins with an infectious rhythm that is well-defined and easy to pinpoint, but as vocals kick in, the song loses some definition. Lenker’s voice starts quiet and almost hypnotic as she sings about her subconscious until the line between sound and thought feels blurred, giving the track its drifting, meditative quality. The repetition in both lyrics and melody creates a circular effect that feels like a trance, or a moment held open in the album’s larger journey.
Following “Words,” “Los Angeles” opens with distant laughter and rhyming lyrics dedicated to eternal loyalty. The guitars are gently strummed, the rhythm measured as Lenker muses again on the passage of time, more specifically in a relationship. There’s an implication that much of what connects two people exists in the stillness between moments and the silence between songs, with lines such as, “Even without speaking / I can tell what you are thinking / Even without saying / We dream our dreams together.” As the chorus washes in, Lenker balances regret, fondness, distance, and affinity, which makes “Los Angeles” sound unhurried and deeply felt.
A theme emerges after a few songs — each track feels unresolved when compared to the pace of previous Big Thief albums, emphasizing lush ambience over propulsion. Nationally bestselling author Steven Hyden first recognized Big Thief in his 2016 article “Steven Hyden’s 50 Favorite Albums of 2016.” Hyden works as a cultural critic for the music and entertainment website UPROXX, and co-hosts UPROXX’s weekly indie music podcast Indiecast. Hyden noted that parts of “Double Infinity” were “a bit repetitive,” going further to say, “some of the songs feel like they were jams.” This perspective points to one of the defining qualities of “Double Infinity.” Many of the songs linger on single melodic phrases, often stretched out with gradual changes instead of dramatic climaxes. The album flows slowly, transforming throughout each track rather than in each song. The tracks create looping and pensive atmospheres that draw the listener into the details of tone, texture, and space.
“All Night All Day” serves as a clear example of prioritizing audio textures and moods over lyrical arcs. The track unfolds like a band jamming together, its structure loose and open-ended, with instruments layering gradually rather than building towards a defined peak. Synths shimmer, basslines pulse, and drums lock into a steady groove that feels more exploratory than directional. Lenker’s lyrics weave through this space as fragments, less like a narrative and more like another layer in the mix. The result is a song that prioritizes immersion in sound over storytelling, embodying the album’s tendency to circle an idea rather than move past it.
The title track “Double Infinity” brings together many of the album’s recurring themes — time, love, memory — into a single contemplative moment. The song opens with Lenker’s falsetto and a steady guitar, and gradually introduces ambient touches, backing vocals, and elusive instrumental shifts that pull the listener in. Lyrics like, “The eye behind the essence / Still unmovable, unchanging” frame love as something enduring amidst the flux of the past and the future. As a song, “Double Infinity” settles into a place of recognizing that what anchors people is not always visible or loud, but rather constant in the midst of change.
On vinyl, the title track marks the end of the album’s A-side. Parker described “Double Infinity” as having an “energy shift from the beginning of the album to the end,” which makes this transition from A-side to B-side an important part of the album. It gives Big Thief a natural point to expand the album from one thought or mood to another.
Opening the album’s B-side, “No Fear” stands out as the most hypnotic and mantra-like track on “Double Infinity.” Over its nearly seven-minute span, Lenker repeats a handful of insistent lyrics rather than developing into a traditional narrative. Parker described Lenker’s words by saying, “It felt like an open letter to her future self.” Musically, the instrumentation swells almost independently of the words for the first time in the album. The repetitive structure can feel soothing — a kind of sonic balm, letting the listener drift inside emotion rather than follow a storyline. On the other hand, the very same quality that cultivates that trance can also test patience; what feels immersive on the first listen may eventually grow static when lyrical material offers no change. Hyden remarked on this, calling parts of the “Double Infinity” “frustrating to listen to,” as each song seemed to be playing into the album’s hypno style ambience.
The next song on the tracklist, “Grandmother,” is one of the more textured and emotionally stratified moments on “Double Infinity,” standing out largely with multi-instrumentalist Laraaji’s involvement. Parker claimed that Laraaji has “helped create what we know as ambient music today,” an agreeable statement when considering Laraaji’s album “Ambient 3: Day of Radiance,” a genre-defining collaboration with Brian Eno. Laraaji’s presence adds another layer of ambient weight; his contributions don’t dominate the track, but instead fill the spaces between Lenker’s voice and the band’s instrumentation, giving “Grandmother” a spacious feel. Hyden proclaimed simply that, “‘Grandmother’ feels like the heart of the record.” With lyrics like, “It’s alright, everything that happened, happened / So what’s the use of holding? / It’s unfolding, we’re all insane / We are made of love / We are also made of pain,” the song balances sorrow with the willingness to grow from hardships, grappling with the legacy of love and pain across generations.
“Happy With You” drifts in as one of the album’s lighter and more upbeat moments, built on soft guitar lines and a patient rhythm that leaves plenty of space around Lenker’s voice. The lyrics are simple and direct, centered on the ease of companionship and the comfort found in shared presence. Hyden named “Happy With You” as a song on the album with “a lot of repetition,” which makes sense considering the lyrics repeat a handful of phrases for the entirety of the song. The constant repetitive element can feel monotonous, and rather than building dramatically, this song holds steady, calmly reinforcing familiarity in a few recurring words.
“How Could I Have Known” closes “Double Infinity” with a note of quiet reflection. The arrangement is sparse, with gentle guitars and restrained percussion that frame Lenker’s voice as she turns inward, asking questions that feel unresolved. Instead of ending with a dramatic flourish, the song lingers in ambiguity, allowing the album to fade into the same spacious, contemplative tone that runs throughout. It feels less like a conclusion and more like an open door, leaving the listener suspended in the album’s meditative atmosphere.
At night two of Big Thief’s Somersault Slide 360 Tour on Sept. 19, one audience member, Amy Porter, proudly stated that she has been a fan of the band since 2019, ever since hearing their song “Shark Smile.” Porter went on to say, “Maybe the band is changing directions musically, but they’re still Big Thief.” “Double Infinity” may have a different sound and enigmatic tone, but within the album, listeners can hear the effort and genuineness that Big Thief never fails to deliver. As said best by Parker: “They’re not strictly anything, they’re Big Thief.”
In the end, “Double Infinity” feels less like a complete statement and more like a fleeting montage of life, love, and loss. When listening to the album from start to finish, each song feels like a photograph in a memory box, evoking deep nostalgia and reawakening old emotions. It’s a project that captures the band’s growth and evolution, and whether that be for better or worse, the record delivers a cohesive vision that lingers even after the final track fades.
