Robin Wattie and Mathieu Ball on their tenth album for Thrill Jockey, out 12 June 2026

Transmission 387: Interview with BIG|BRAVE

BIG|BRAVE are a trio formed by guitarist and vocalist Robin Wattie and guitarist Mathieu Ball. Across ten albums they have worked at the edges of drone, electronic textures, and heavy music, building pieces from texturally maximalist loops, affected vocals, and the contrast between extremity and subtlety. Their tenth album, in grief or in hope, released by Thrill Jockey on 12 June 2026, moves toward denser, guitar-oriented composition and brings longtime touring bassist Liam Andrews (MY DISCO, Aicher) into the studio with them for the first time, layering the record with harmonics and tonal intricacies recorded live.

Title: in grief or in hope
Artist: BIG|BRAVE
Release Date: 2026-06-12
Genres: Avant-garde, Drone, Experimental Music, Lo-fi, Noise Rock
Label: Thrill Jockey
Description: BIG|BRAVE talk grief, hope and their tenth album in grief or in hope, out 12 June 2026 on Thrill Jockey.

Wattie’s lyrics circle grief and hope, death and life, cause and effect, and the shared experience of being a human person, set against droney chord changes and melodic phrasing. The record carries references to their own past: the track “the ineptitude for mutual discernment” extends lyrical themes from 2015’s Au De La, while “verdure” echoes melodies from the title track of 2014’s Feral Verdure. Across pieces such as “what may be the kindest way to leave,” “an uttering of antipathy,” and the title track, Wattie’s vocals shift between spectral undulation, autotuned phrasing, and spare direct declaration.

What were you listening to before you became musicians? What were the sounds that formed you?

Mathieu: I started playing music at such a young age that conceptualizing sound, and sound outside of music hadn’t yet become a thing for me. I’d love to go back pre-music and figure this out as there must of been sounds that piqued my curiosity as it would be fascinating to revisit a pre-musical mind. Music itself and getting to love music became the gateway into being obsessed with sounds.

How did the band first come together, and what were you each looking for musically at that point?

Mathieu: Robin and I had just become friends and we started playing music together with no plans of starting a band. It was simply a way of spending time together and creating together. Only after some time did the idea of playing shows even cross our mind.

How has your approach to songwriting shifted over the course of ten albums?

Mathieu: Yes and no. I believe we are better at it now but the approach is pretty much the same. The difference between now and then is the thousands of hours we’ve poured into making music and all the music we’ve consumed personally since we started this band. The experience and knowledge informs everything we make, and will continue to do so, but the way we approach writing music I think is still very similar to as it ways 15 years ago.

This is Liam Andrews’ first time in the studio with you. How did his presence change the songwriting dynamic between Robin and Mathieu?

Mathieu: After years of touring together, having Liam Andrews finally play on a record meant a lot. His sound has been an inspiration for a long time. And as his presence didn’t alter the song writing process, his sonic and tonal contribution elevated the music we had in mind for the record.

How did the title come about, and what does it mean to you?

Robin: the record lives in that tension between grief and hope / grief vs hope. it’s about holding both realities at once and trying to make sense of the world through that lens. I was thinking about death and life, cause and effect, and the shared experience of being human. no matter where I looked – personally, socially, politically.

Each track feels like its own realm. Were there specific new instruments, pedals, or tunings that unlocked these textures?

Mathieu: As far as instrumentation goes, for the guitar specifically, not much had changed technically. We utilized the same tuning as the last record, and barely any new effects were added to our individual set ups. The difference came in the lack of drums and having to fill more space with the guitars as a result of this.

Robin, you focused on “grief and hope, death and life.” Do you view these as opposing forces, or are they inextricably linked?

Robin: I don’t really see them as opposites. i think we’re often taught to think in binaries – grief versus hope, death versus life – but my experiences have been that they’re deeply intertwined. grief exists because something / someone mattered, because there was love, connection, life etc. and hope often emerges from grief, from the need to keep moving, to imagine a future beyond loss.

Is there a single idea or feeling that all the tracks orbit around? What is the album’s centre of gravity?

robin: i’d say the record sits in a space of contemplation / introspection. / observation and maybe even some sort of reckoning with what it means to exist alongside others.

Is there a moment on this album that still unsettles you when you hear it back?

m: To be honest, no. everything that made it onto the record was picked from a bank of music and only what we felt was our best work made it to the final cut

Outside of music, what authors, poets, or visual artists most influence your approach to storytelling?

m: I am personally very influence by sculpture. The work of Richard Sera or Henry Moore specifically. Their work has such a large presence and immaculate for and that is always something I strive for when it comes to writing music.

How does the state of the world filter into what you make, if at all?

m: The state of the world is never not on our minds. I that is why the album has such sad heavy themes. It’s impossible for us to shut out the rest of the world, while writing, record and even performing.

Are you working on new material, or do you have any collaborations in mind?

m: At the moment, no! We have just spend the last 2 months learning how to play with record for the live and setting, and as rewarding as it’s been, it was a lot of work. Right now we focused on touring this record for the next long while. What comes next we at the moment cannot predict.

Photo courtesy of BIG|BRAVE

Matteo Damiani

Matteo Damiani is an Italian photographer and author. Curator of the sites Retrofuturista.com; weirditaly.com; china-underground.com and others