Photo: Erin Birgy

James Krivchenia of Big Thief announces ambitious sound-collage album, shares “Emissaries of Creation”

It seems James Krivchenia is just as restlessly productive as his Big Thief bandmates, as he has just announced that he’ll be releasing a new album called Blood Karaoke on April 15 through Reading Group – while he’s still in the midst of touring behind Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You.

Blood Karaoke has an intriguing creation process, having been made from hundreds of samples of YouTube videos found through random online generators. Krivchenia says it involved “lots of editing and putting together little moments or 10 second chunks with lots of samples. The music was conceived to be a somewhat unbroken 40 minute long composition and I think of the singles as excerpts.”

If you think it sounds a bit like what Daniel Lopatin (Oneohtrix Point Never) did in his earlier days, then you’re on the right track judging from the mind-boggling lead single “Emissaries of Creation”. Take a listen below.


James Krivchenia’s Blood Karaoke is out on April 15 through Reading Group (pre-order). You can find him on Instagram and Facebook.