Big Thief’s New Song ‘Certainty’ Was Recorded Using a Cigarette Lighter

Big Thief have released their new song “Certainty.” The group recorded it during a power outage while they were at Sam Evian’s Flying Cloud Studios in upstate New York. According to a statement, they rigged equipment to a cigarette lighter to lay the track. It features harmonies from Hannah Cohen.

“On the third day of the outage, I found Adrianne [Lenker] on the porch writing a new song, so I sat with her and we finished it together, with the rain falling from the gutters splashing over our guitars,” guitarist Buck Meek said in a statement. “James [Krivchenia] and Sam saw us writing, and quickly set up a four-track tape machine in the kitchen, powered by the F250 cigarette lighter out in the yard. They set up the drums by the sink, and Max [Oleartchik] plugged his bass into a Bluetooth speaker set on top of the stove. Take two had a great bark from Sam and Hannah’s pup Jan during the solo, but we ended up going with take three because it took us about that long to learn the chords. Then we made pancakes and sausages and ate breakfast for dinner.”

The setting for the recording of the song befits the folk song, with its campfire harmonies and romantic sway. “My certainty is wild, weaving/For you I am a child, believing,” they sing on the chorus. “You lay beside me sleeping on a plane/In the future.”

The song follows their recently released “Little Things” and “Sparrow.” Big Thief is currently on their U.S. tour, which runs through September and October, wrapping in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for a two-night stint on October 1st and 2nd at Union Transfer.