Stealing away

Alt-folk band Big Thief likes to keep challenging audiences.

- BY GRAHAM REID

DOUBLE INFINITY

Recently, plaintive postings have appeared on social media along the lines of “I don’t get Big Thief”. For some, New York’s Grammy-nominated alternative-folk band are problematic and maybe faltering: there was the loss of founder bassist Max Oleartchik from their commune-like collective, their career blurred by solo albums, notably singer/writer Adrianne Lenker’s 2024 Bright Future, and they are difficult to define.

In the taxonomy of genres, the subspecies “alt-folk” is frayed at the edges by post-folk, alt-country and other spinoff styles.