Lucy Dacus had an established indie singer-songwriter career before joining indie supergroup juggernaut Boygenius with Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker. The meteoric rise of Boygenius, both commercially and critically, took up a lot of Dacus’ time and we didn’t see much solo work from her. Now she is back with her record Forever is a Feeling.
Dacus’ work has always been known for surgically sharp lyrics combined with her soulful vocal that gets you right in the heart. She has always had a knack for catchy tunes peppered with lyrics that stuck to your mind. Moreover, her musical arrangements were complex with a mix of acoustic folky fare mixed with rock crunch. A great example of this fusion is her track Night Shift, which is largely a traditional indie singer-songwriter track until the last two minutes kick into high gear and change your life forever. Your life will forever be measured as what came before 4:11 in Night Shift and what came after. On Ankles, Dacus is similarly complex, but weaves very gothic and dramatic strings with crystalline pop guitar and snappy percussion. It is an interesting juxtaposition, which works really well.
Lyrically, Dacus takes us on a passionate sexual journey complete with getting pulled by the ankles and bitten on the shoulder. However, this is a sexual partner who has to be willing to “do the crossword in the morning.” I love this line. In most songs we expect such descriptions of passionate sex to either be the end in themselves, any Usher song, or part of some insatiable sex journey…looking at you SexyBack. On the other side we get songs about love that do not have any overt sex in them, any Beatles love song really. Rarely do we get both sides of the coin. Dacus doesn’t just want someone to have passionate sex with and move on, she wants both the passion and spending time with each other. I found this depiction of love to be very realistic and grounded.
Everyone in Boygenius has an amazing solo career that you should look into. Dacus is able to move from singer-songwriter, to crunch rock, to shimmering pop quite easily. It has been 4 or 5 years since her last solo record, so it is great to see that she is still doing solo work. If you only know Lucy Dacus through Boygenius, be sure to check this record out…you will not be disappointed.
Listen to Ankles
