Big Thief Are Back Again With the Beautiful “Born For Loving You”

Big Thief got bigger than ever in 2022, raking in acclaim (not to mention a Grammy nomination) with their sprawling double album Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You, and rather than resting on those laurels, the indie-folk four-piece returned Wednesday with “Born For Loving You,” their second new tune of the year.

Like this summer’s “Vampire Empire” and plenty more Big Thief singles before it, “Born For Loving You” started as a staple of the band’s live sets and became a fan favorite. Both tracks were recorded and produced by Dom Monks at Guissona, Spain’s Teatre de cal Eril Studio during a recent tour, and they share the kind of anthemic, open-hearted sensibility that can make music such a special communal experience. “Born For Loving You” is a warm strummer overflowing with romance, as intimate as it is accessible, and as personal as it is universal. It radiates the peace that comes with finding one’s purpose in life and leaving doubts behind.

Here, Adrianne Lenker’s cosmic-folk poetry makes an age-old idea—that love is all we need—feel new again. “Born For Loving You” is all-encompassing in its scope, opening on the beginnings of existence (“After the first stars formed / After the dinos fell”) before retracing Lenker’s own (“From my first steps, to my first words / To waddlin’ around lookin’ at birds”). The North Star guiding her every step, through times both good and bad, is selfless love. Lenker and Buck Meek’s steady guitars reinforce the song’s sense of unwavering faith—its conviction that true human connection is more important than anything our imaginations can conjure.

Both “Born For Loving You” and “Vampire Empire” will be released on vinyl as a 7” single on Oct. 20 via 4AD. Preorders are open now.