Big Thief has had a solid presence on the NPR Tiny Desk Concert series over the past couple years, although not the band proper: Adrianne Lenker offered a set in 2020 and Buck Meek gave his own performance last year. The last time Big Thief did Tiny Desk was 2016, well before the series had to shift away from its traditional office setup and to the current at-home format.
Now, they’re back, as Big Thief turn in a new Tiny Desk concert today. This time, they take to a small household room — with a small, round table serving as the titular desk — the four of them (Lenker, Meek, Max Oleartchik, and James Krivchenia) squeezing in as they play a trio of songs from their 2022 album Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You: “Change,” “Dried Roses,” and “Certainty.” They wrapped up the performance with a rendition of “Happiness,” a currently unreleased song they’ve played live about a couple dozen times since 2020, per Setlist.fm data.
The band didn’t have to deal with any onlookers talking during this performance, which Lenker must appreciate: In a recent video, she lamented concertgoers talking as opening acts perform and gave her reasons why this bothers her so much.
Check out the full performance above.
