Big Thief Play An Ass-Kicking "Shoulders" on 'Kimmel': Watch

Ever since they embarked on their incredible U.F.O.F./Two Hands two-album run last year, Big Thief have been making the promotional rounds, playing on every TV show that’ll have them. Most the time, when bands do this, it gets boring fast. It does not get boring with Big Thief. The band’s performance “Not” on Colbert last year, for instance, was one the best music-on-TV moments in recent memory. Big Thief seem to have the gift summoning spirits every time they play together, even in the tackiest contexts. They always do something tingly and incredible. They did it again last night.

Last night, Big Thief were the musical guests on Jimmy Kimmel Live. They played “Shoulders,” the exposed-nerve domestic-violence song that was a live favorite even before they included it on Two Hands last year. The Kimmel stage, so full neon and product placement, is a strange place for that. It didn’t matter. They crushed it anyway.

Part the trill is that it’s cool to see wiry weirdos like Big Thief getting the chance to play repeated TV performances in the first place. But part it is also that Adrienne Lenker always seems like she’s got hellhounds chasing her, whenever and wherever she sings. When this performance reaches its cathartic ending, she is once scratching at your soul. Watch it happen below.

Two Hands is out now on 4AD.