Lucy Dacus - Forever Is A Feeling

Lucy Dacus has a lot to thank boygenius for on her fourth studio album, ‘Forever Is A Feeling’. The collaborative project alongside Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker - a trio who have known each other since the middle of the last decade - has not only propelled Lucy to a new-found level of international fame, but, as is evident throughout her new record’s musings on love and relationships, has also seen her find love with bandmate Julien. It’s no surprise that the pair have confirmed their relationship in the run-up to the album’s release - a direct effort not only to end reams of online speculation, but also to celebrate the intricacies of a partnership laid out so bare.

It’s the happiest Lucy has sounded, pairing her increasingly-distinctive balance between minimalist melodies and soft guitars with love-fuelled lyricism (take ‘Modigliani”s “you make me homesick for places I’ve never been before”; the title track’s “I remember thinking you were pretty when we met”; or Hozier-featuring ‘Bullseye”s “I always loved the way you play guitar”). In these moments, Lucy fully embraces the joys of her relationship (or, at the very least, the delight of her feeling for another). 

On the album’s most immediate track ‘Most Wanted Man’, she gushes over the small, intimate moments at dinner, both at a restaurant or in the kitchen. “I just want to make you happy,” she notes before asking, “will you let me spend a lifetime trying?”, both a direct acceptance of love and a fleeting caveat that good things don’t come easily. Even at its most celebratory, ‘Forever Is A Feeling’ never shies away from Lucy’s insecurities, the origin of which are hinted at in ‘Come Out”s comment on a patriarchal society, or ‘For Keeps” nod to religion. Here, she explores the hardships that queer relationships face and the intricate balance between friendships and romance in her own way, exploring love through a tentative, poignantly relatable lens.