Big Thief's Adrianne Lenker Announces New LP 'Bright Future,' Drops Touching Track "Sadness as a Gift"

Adrianne Lenker, the lead vocalist and guitarist of Big Thief, will be putting out a new solo album. The project is called Bright Future and will be dropping on March 22 via 4AD.

For the effort, Lenker assembled a group of her longtime friends at her analog studio, noting that he hadn’t set out with the intention to make an album, merely wanting to explore new sounds. Her co-producer and engineer on her previous solo projects, Philip Weinrobe, returned for the sessions.

Nick Hakim played piano, while Mat Davidson also contributed piano, as well as violin and guitar. Violinist and percussionist Josefin Runsteen joined in for not only instrumentation but also to record vocal harmonies with Lenker.

“I think the thing these people have in common, they are some of the best listeners I know musically. They have extreme presence,” Lenker said of the group’s studio sessions.

The follow-up to 2020’s songs, Bright Future clocks in at 12 tracks, including a rerecording of Big Thief’s “Vampire Empire.” In tandem with announcing the LP, Lenker has shared a first taste of what’s to come with the heartwrenching single, “Sadness As A Gift.”

Lenker will be heading on a tour in support of the forthcoming LP just a week after its release, kicking off with a performance at Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, Tennessee on March 21 and making stops throughout the US.

Stream Adrianne Lenker’s new song “Sadness As A Gift” everywhere now. Bright Future is out in full on March 15.