Brooklyn based folk-rock band Big Thief graced the stage of The Foundry, succeeding in filling the room on a Wednesday night in Brisbane. With well-chosen supports from local singer-songwriters Feeding Fauna and Daggy Man, it was certainly a night of songwriting at its finest, with each act executing a sense of realness and honesty that the crowd undoubtedly connected with.

Local songstress, Feeding Fauna opened the night with a sultry solo performance. Armed with just a guitar, and an appearance of a more enigmatic choice of omnichord later in the set, Louise O’Reilly certainly knows how to create music that is both dark and moody, yet so simple and captivating. The room of punters who got there early to watch the support were silenced by O’Reilly’s charismatic storytelling between songs, and the simple, sometimes dark guitar drones, woven with intricate, poetic vocal parts likened to the of Patti Smith. An old drum machine sample led into new song, ‘I’ve Been Living In The Headland Too Long,’ to conclude a stellar opening performance from Feeding Fauna, really setting up the atmosphere for the rest of the evening.

Solo project of Tom Calder (The Trouble With Templeton), Daggy Man took to the stage next, delivering a hard-hitting, vocal-driven performance. With relatable lyrics like, ‘There is a mattress in the backroom where we lay there and speak / if you stay here, then I won’t leave,’ it was easy for the audience to instantly connect with the performer and feel the unashamed honesty in his words. Off the back of his sophomore album, A Lazy Kind of Pain, released in June this year, it is no wonder that Daggy Man was chosen as a support, with his melancholic, unafraid vocal delivery  and subtle guitar parts lending themselves to comparisons with the likes of Iron and Wine and Elliot Smith. 

By the time Big Thief came on stage, the crowd had thickened and there was a sense of closeness between those standing in the dark, disco-ball lit room. Opening the set with Parallels, a song from previous album Masterpiece, the audience was immediately drawn in by the charms that Adrienne Lenker and her band offered. An unquestionable storyteller, Lenker truly knows how to forge an intimate moment between the listener and the artist. With illustrative lyrics speaking of trauma and family history, it was as though Lenker was reliving each moment there in that room, with the audience silent witnesses to her pain. A few tears and sighs were heard around the room when Real Love was played, a bittersweet guitar-driven song speaking of domestic violence, accompanied by a childlike innocence in Lenker’s voice. More upbeat songs like Shark Smile, Great White Shark and the single, Mythological Beauty, helped to lighten the mood and get the audience swaying with the softly strummed guitar and laid-back beats. It was refreshing to hear the vocal artistry in Mary, with Lenker receiving applause after her quickening series of words, that ebbed and flowed with the faint backing parts. While crowd-favourite Paul connected Lenker and the audience on an entirely different level, with the room lamenting over the struggles of love and loss. It’s no wonder that the crowd found this song relatable, with lyrics like ‘I realised that no one could kiss away my shit,’ it was a defining moment in the set that really captured the honesty and raw emotion that is so evident in Lenker’s songwriting. Big Thief returned to the stage for an encore, with a new song Terminal Paradise, showcasing Lenker’s guitar aptitude with an intricately strewn part, laced with the subtle use of harmonics, and layered with lyrics, ‘Let me rest / let me go.’

 Big Thief certainly knows how to play with your heart-strings. You can tell that Lenker has lived through grief, and for anyone that’s felt any form of heart ache or loss, Lenker’s song craft and gentle voice will console and heal those feelings of darkness for a moment. Big Thief is an impeccable example of story telling at its finest, with the song craft and honest live presence honed to perfection.

Kassie Sofia