BV Interviews: Big Thief’s Buck Meek talks finding joy & breaking rules on his great new album ‘The Mirror’

“With this album in general, I tried to practice just doing the thing that I was afraid to do,” Big Thief guitarist Buck Meek says of the songwriting process on new solo album The Mirror. “In the creative process, there’s always inevitable self doubt that comes up often based on like what you think other people want or based on some kind of external pressure or taboo or whatever. And to some degree, the creative process is just kind of like working around those fears. With this with this one, I just tried to really lean into those things. If if I felt something come up that I was afraid to say, I just said it louder or leaned into it, emphasized it, and just did the thing I wasn’t supposed to do, and broke my own rules.”

Rules to be broken included things like naming a song “Ring of Fire,” one of the many gems on The Mirror, Buck’s fourth solo album and second for 4AD. He made it with his Big Thief bandmate James Krivchenia, who brought a world of ambient sound design to what would otherwise be a more traditional rock record. It makes The Mirror even more rewarding on relisten and deepens the feeling of hope and joy that feel rare in 2026. “The songs themselves were like moments of catharsis or kind of self comfort — if I was going through something, writing the song itself was actually a process of like acceptance or, you know, letting something go. For me, in the moment, it was like an actual moment of joy that I was trying to summon, to rise above something I was going through.”

I talked to Buck on the latest episode of BV Interviews, and topics of conversation include the production of the album and how guitarist Adam Brisbin played a major role in the way it sounds, parallels between this album and Big Thief’s Double Infinity, plus the many guests on The Mirror, including Adrianne Lenker, Jolie Holland and more. We also talk about Buck’s new band Kisser which is led by his partner, Germaine Dunes, and also features Luke Temple, as well as tour plans, five records he thinks everyone should own, a little food talk, and more. Listen and subscribe here, below or wherever you get your podcasts.

As he mentions in the interview, Buck will be on a solo tour of North America later this year with Kisser opening, but details have yet to be announced. He and Kisser will first be in Europe and the UK this spring and all announced dates are listed below.

The Mirror by Buck Meek

Buck Meek – 2026 Tour Dates
Thu. March 12 – South Pasadena, CA @ Sid The Cat Auditorium*
Mon. March 16 – Dublin, IE @ Whelan’s*
Tue. March 17 – Manchester, UK @ YES | Pink Room*
Wed. March 18 – Glasgow, UK @ Mono*
Fri. March 20 – London, UK @ EartH*
Sat. March 21 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club*
Sun. March 22 – Bristol, UK @ Exchange*
Tue. March 24 – Paris, FR @ Point Éphémère*
Wed. March 25 – Brussels, BE @ AB Club*
Thu. March 26 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso | Tolhuistuin*
Fri. March 27 – Nijmegen, NL @ Doornroosje*
Sat. March 28 – Springe, DE @ Gut Bennigsen*
Sun. March 29 – Berlin, DE @ Neue Zukunft*
Tue. March 31 – Copenhagen, DK @ Hotel Cecil*
Wed. April 1 – Helsinki, FI @ G Livelab Helsinki (solo) $
Thu. April 2 – Tampere, FI @ G Livelab Tampere (solo) $

*= w/ Kisser
$ = Germaine Dunes

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