#remember when dave poured literal shit onto people in the chicago river

[groovesnjams]

“Simulation Swarm” by Big Thief

MG:

I’m somewhat proud that Grooves N Jams has avoided Big Thief as long as we have, especially because in my limited self-awareness I always knew that -- let’s face it -- it was going to be my fault when we eventually succumbed and, look, here we are! There is so much I really almost despise about this band; they are abject to me, they are the film forming on a glass of milk in my mind and they are that same glass of milk curdling in my stomach. I hate Adrienne Lenker’s soft, passive, baby voice. I hate the way the folky, picked guitars on “Simulation Swarm” burble up like vomit from my mouth as my consciousness hovers somewhere above my trembling body. But I won’t belie the point: I love this song. How could I not? It provokes such a passionate emotional response from me.

Though my obsession was fomenting well before they released their list, Pitchfork recently compared the group to Dave Matthews Band (maybe the band has faced this comparison before) and that resonates. As a tween, DMB haunted me like the blood on Lady Macbeth’s hands -- if “Ants Marching” is so terrible (and on some plane of reality, yes, it is) then why does my body thrill to hear it? In retrospect, an as an adult, I can hear how “Ants Marching” is kids’ music. It’s busy and alive and constantly surging toward explosion. There’s a fucking fiddle solo, what was I supposed to do? “Simulation Swarm,” however, sounds much more obviously like “Satellite:” mannered, pirouetting, mature. I could basically tune “Satellite” out. In many ways, my inability to tune “Simulation Swarm” out any longer feels like some kind of long suppressed horror refusing to be denied.

Part of its allure is the constant, largely idiosyncratic and nonsensical stream of babble. I like to overlay my own idiosyncratic and nonsensical stream of babble, but when I pay close attention to lines like “You believe, I believe, too, that you are the river of light” I can see there’s really no need. Big Thief get it -- replacing full, robust thoughts layered through intrinsic meaning and extrinsic definition with vibes and mythology and aesthetics. But the line that really gets me, the line that keeps “Simulation Swarm” spinning on tilt, is quite simple: once again. How to ever get off a ride that voluntarily restarts mid-run? This song is a trap.

DV:

“Milk” is a perfect comparison for Big Thief’s brand of indie rock: I was force-fed it as a kid, spent years trying to make my peace with it by experimenting with different varieties and brands, and as an adult finally realized I had a lactose allergy. “Simulation Swarm” is a guitar figure in search of a hook in search of a melody: it’s four minutes that feel like twenty. It’s background music for running your blender to make a protein shake or your sink’s disposal to churn your uneaten food into sewer-friendly slurry (I am assuming no one listens to Big Thief outside of the USA, despite their repeated attempts to perform in an apartheid state.) I appreciate MG’s struggle with this bad song but do not share it, which admittedly may be because I’ve never heard “Satellite” before today. Someone please let me know when Big Thief try rewriting Vertical Horizon, and that’ll be my cue to grapple with what it all means.