AdriAnne Lenker

Adrianne Lenker produces solo recordings marked by austerity, fragility, and intimate revelation while also gaining recognition for her songcraft and appearances with indie folk-rock group Big Thief. Her first release on a label, Hours Were the Birds, emerged in early 2014 and featured her voice and acoustic guitar supported by just a handful of backing vocalists. That same year she began working with guitarist and songwriter Buck Meek; the pair soon formed Big Thief, whose 2016 debut Masterpiece earned widespread praise and registered on the Billboard Heatseekers chart. As the band’s independent following expanded, Lenker issued additional solo projects, among them the 2020 double album songs and instrumentals. Big Thief achieved a career-best Top 40 Billboard 200 placement with their fifth album, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You, in 2022, after which Lenker returned in 2024 with the leaner solo effort Bright Future and contributed to the compilation TRANSA.

Born in Minneapolis, Lenker received her earliest guitar instruction from her father and started composing at age ten. Following her parents’ divorce when she turned twelve, she devoted herself fully to music, an pursuit her father continued to support through her teenage years. She issued her first solo recordings while still a teenager in 2006. Discouraged by later sessions in Nashville, short of funds, and lacking a high-school diploma, she secured her father’s assistance to apply for a summer program at Boston’s Berklee College of Music; acceptance led to a full-time scholarship. Lenker completed her studies in 2012 and moved to Brooklyn.

Shortly after settling in New York she encountered fellow Berklee graduate Buck Meek, whom she recalled from an earlier shared bill in Boston. The two quickly became close friends and musical allies, issuing the duo EPs A-Sides and B-Sides in 2014 before expanding into Big Thief with bassist Max Oleartchik and drummer James Krivchenia. Around the same time Lenker signed with Saddle Creek, which put out Hours Were the Birds later that year.

The quartet’s first album, Masterpiece, appeared on Saddle Creek in 2016, the year they also performed at the South by Southwest Festival and opened for Eleanor Friedberger, Yuck, Frankie Cosmos, and M. Ward. Their national television debut came with a March 2017 appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers. Big Thief’s second album, Capacity, arrived that June and reached the Top 20 on Billboard’s Heatseekers, independent, Americana/folk, and vinyl charts.

Following the Capacity tour, which included headline dates and shows alongside Conor Oberst, Meek released a self-titled solo album. Lenker answered later in 2018 with the spare Abysskiss on Saddle Creek, produced by Luke Temple, who also played on the record. Reuniting with Big Thief and producer Andrew Sarlo, the band delivered the atmospheric U.F.O.F. in May 2019 as their 4AD debut. Its punchier counterpart Two Hands followed in October; both albums entered the Billboard 200, with Two Hands peaking at number 113. The group spent the balance of the year touring North America and Europe, appearing at Norway’s Oya Festival and the U.K.’s Green Man Festival.

When the COVID-19 pandemic halted touring in March 2020, Lenker returned to New York before learning of a cabin available near friends in the mountains of Western Massachusetts. Captivated by the acoustics of the empty space, she invited engineer Philip Weinrobe to record an acoustic album there. Written largely on location, the resulting double-length songs and instrumentals contained eleven minimally arranged songs plus a set of guitar and windchime improvisations and was released by 4AD in October 2020.

As venues and studios slowly reopened, Big Thief drummer Krivchenia produced the expansive double LP Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You, issued on 4AD in February 2022. It climbed to a career-high number 31 on the Billboard 200, prompting the band to resume an active touring schedule. In July 2023 they released the 7-inch single “Vampire Empire” b/w “Born for Loving You.” That December Lenker issued the intimate solo single “Ruined” as a preview of an album built around voice, piano, guitar, and violin. Co-produced by Weinrobe and featuring Nick Hakim, Mat Davidson, and Josefin Runsteen, Bright Future appeared on 4AD in March 2024. The release earned further critical and commercial notice, reaching multiple U.S. charts and peaking at number five on Billboard’s Heatseekers. Later that year Lenker contributed the song “Feel Better” to the Red Hot Organization’s TRANSA compilation, which spotlighted trans voices.