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Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You is the fifth studio album by the American band Big Thief, released as a double album through 4AD on February 11, 2022. Produced by drummer James Krivchenia, the album features 20 songs which were recorded over five months in four different locations across the United States. The album's release was preceded by eight singles. It received acclaim from critics upon release.
Background
In 2019, Big Thief left Saddle Creek and signed to 4AD, releasing two studio albums: U.F.O.F. in May 2019 and Two Hands in October 2019. The albums were the band's most successful and acclaimed to date: U.F.O.F. received a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album and both albums appeared on the Billboard 200 chart, with Two Hands peaking at 113. Their song "Not" from Two Hands was named by many publications as one of the year's best songs and was nominated for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards. Big Thief toured in support of the albums until March 2020, when their European tour was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In October 2020, Lenker released two solo albums: Songs and Instrumentals. Guitarist Buck Meek released his second solo album Two Saviors in January 2021.
Recording
Drummer James Krivchenia produced the album
Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You album was produced by drummer James Krivchenia, who conceived the concept behind its recording. In late 2019, while at a hotel in Copenhagen, Krivchenia presented the band with the concept that they would travel to four different locations: Upstate New York, Topanga Canyon in California, the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, and the Colorado mountains. They would record at four different studios with four separate engineers, and go to each place with a specific sonic plan in mind. Krivchenia's intent was to capture a full expression of Lenker's songwriting and the band onto a single album. Krivchenia's production handling also marks the band's first album not produced by their longtime collaborator Andrew Sarlo.
The band recorded over the span of five months, resulting in 45 complete songs which were ultimately edited down to the album's 20 tracks. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the band initially quarantined in the Vermont woods for two weeks in July 2020. The first session was in July and August 2020 at Sam Evian's Flying Cloud Recordings in Upstate New York. The second session was with Shawn Everett in October 2020 at Five Star Studios in Topanga, California. The third session was with engineer Dom Monks, who previously engineered U.F.O.F. and Two Hands; the session took place in November 2020 at MusicGardens - Studio In The Clouds in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, located just outside Telluride. The fourth and final session was in December 2020 at Scott McMicken's Press On Studio in Tucson, Arizona. Mat Davidson, a longtime friend of the band who performs under the moniker Twain and was featured on Capacity (2017), was invited to contribute to the recordings in Arizona. Davidson's vocals and fiddle performances would ultimately feature heavily throughout the Arizona recordings, marking the first time the band incorporated a fifth instrumentalist for such a substantial contribution. The album also features recordings from April 2020 at The Elf Inn in Westhampton, Massachusetts.
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