– Ana Achata, Staff Writer
Big Thief is back with another beautiful album—Our pick this week is “Incomprehensible” off of their new album Double Infinity that comes out on September 3, 2025. Double Infinity is going to be the band’s first album in almost three years, featuring nine tracks.
Getting Older is a Blessing
“Incomprehensible” was written by Adrienne Lenker herself, and her poetic, playful voice lingers in every line of this track. The song starts and ends with a wish: “Incomprehensible, let me be.” At first, Lenker sings of the present and her childhood, noting, “Mr. Bear and the wooden box I hid,” while describing a road trip happening with her partner after they missed their plane. The music itself is soft and humming, almost like the backdrop for Lenker’s musings and reflections. Towards the midpoint and end of the song, Lenker sings about her upcoming birthday and her mother and grandmas. Here, she dedicates a verse to the expectations that society places on women as they age. Lenker sings, “The message spirals, ‘Don’t get saggy, don’t get grey,’” and then describes her mother, grandma, and great-grandma by saying, “Wrinkle like the river, sweeten like the dew.”
The same wish is echoed at the end of the track: “Incomprehensible, let me be.” I admire Adrienne Lenker’s songwriting so much because she always takes me somewhere with her writing. By the end of the song, her wish to be “incomprehensible” has totally shifted meanings. At first, the exact message of the line seems a little unclear, but by the closing of the track, it has turned into a wish to find joy in aging, and to let the world wonder at that joy.
Behind the Scenes
I was lucky enough to hear “Incomprehensible” live in November 2024 when Adrienne Lenker came to the Shubert Theatre in Boston, and I still think that it’s absolutely perfect. The song was first performed live a few months prior in July 2024, and now it is finally released for everyone to love and appreciate. During a show in Washington D.C., Lenker said, “What’s funny is when I was writing it, I really thought it was like a huge rock and roll song but I just realized it was so quiet and felt best that way.”
My personal wish is that we get many more years with Big Thief, and that we are lucky enough to see them age and grow within their musical career and their personal lives. Make sure to keep an eye out for Double Infinity, I’m sure it’s going to be fantastic.
