Big Thief: Capacity (indie exclusive, eco-colour vinyl) [4AD]

Why you'll love it

This 4AD reissue is an indie exclusive pressed on eco-colour vinyl. Capacity drew universal acclaim (81 on Metacritic) and placed No. 2 on Spin's and No. 3 on NPR's albums of 2017 lists.

This edition

• Indie exclusive
• Eco-colour vinyl

About the album

The cover photo shows Adrianne Lenker as a newborn in her uncle's arms, which tells you most of what you need to know about how close to the bone Capacity gets. Big Thief made it a year after their debut, house-sitting at a farmhouse and recording on analog gear with producer Andrew Sarlo for about a month, with nobody coming to interrupt.

"Shark Smile" is the rolling, road-trip single, a rare Big Thief song you can tap the steering wheel to, while "Mythological Beauty" turns family history into something luminous. "Mary" is a long, tumbling piano ballad, "Watering" builds to a roar, and Buck Meek's guitar threads through "Great White Shark" and "Haley" with that tangle-and-shimmer sound the band has made their own. Greg Calbi mastered it.

Paste later named it among the best indie rock albums of the 2010s, and the Brooklyn four-piece went on to sign with 4AD, who have now brought it home. Should you need us, we'll be at the counter having a perfectly normal, entirely dry-eyed afternoon.

Also at Kops: more Big Thief on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

Listen

On 4AD (originally Saddle Creek) (cat# 4AD0754LP), a reissue of the 2017 album.