Whimsical, stripped-bare, and baroque in its aesthetics, Lucy Dacus’ fourth studio album ‘Forever Is a Feeling’ is an intimate lyrical journey through destruction, creation, and the spaces in between.
Stream: ‘Forever Is a Feeling’ – Lucy Dacus
With Forever Is a Feeling, Lucy Dacus imparts herself and her innermost wants, thoughts, and feelings to listeners.
In this fourth solo studio album from the Boygenius singer/songwriter, the lyrics are given center stage. With a velvety timbre evocative of all things that are both feared and desirous, Dacus sheds some light on all the layers of emotion that come with infatuation.
And it all begins with the first track, “Calliope Prelude,” an instrumental prologue that immediately brings in baroque, classical influence through the kaleidoscopic arrangement of strings. “Big Deal” follows sequentially and immediately embraces listeners into a lyrical wonderland. The imagery and diction in the text are gorgeous, to say the least. Each word is entrancing and adds to the illustrious landscape of a story that Dacus tells of a lover’s (seemingly accidental) confession. The song introduces the theme of uncertainty and fear that will carry throughout the project, but in particular, this track addresses the question of how the relationship might alter or disrupt the current state of a relationship.
But we both know that it would never work
You’ve got your girl, you’re gonna marry her
And I’ll be watching in a pinstriped suit
Not even wishing it was me and you
So what changes, if anything?
Maybe everything can stay the same
But if we never talk about it again
There’s something I want you to understand
You’re a big deal
This track also highlights the stubborn hope of potential. Though Dacus makes sure to give the majority of her attention to reassuring the person she is singing to that their confession has value and regardless of what happens between them, they are “a big deal” to her and her feelings about said person won’t be tainted with resentment should things go south.
“Ankles” is wholly a song of lovey-dovey infatuation and unbridled yearning. Dacus, describes mundane images of a life with the one she loves (and wants to be loved by) by singing, “I want you to show me what you mean / Then help me with thе crossword in the mornings / You are gonna make mе tea / Gonna ask me how did I sleep.” It’s all very tender and rooted in idealism, though it returns to the idea of doom and destruction as mentioned before. As Dacus continues, “Agent of chaos, angel of death / One of three ancient fates / Playing with your scissors again” and goes on to say, “How lucky are we to have so much to lose?” All in all rounding out the sentiment of the song to be desperately and hopelessly romantic despite the underlying fear of chaos that perseveres.
With “Limerence,” Dacus opens the floodgates into her mind, as she shares her thoughts and gives her heartbreaking confession. It is unnervingly tender when she removes the glamour by delicately singing, “I’m thinking about breaking your heart someday soon / And if I do, I’ll be breaking mine too.” It’s an all too relatable sentiment, and thus, all the more devastating.
Backed by cascading keys that fall like rain on a cobbled, spring-rotted street, the song truly characterizes and embodies the feeling of limerence. In the end, the song is confessional, of the befuddled, euphoric despair of a frightened awareness and knowing that’s tainted by regret.
I know that there is
And I know what I’ll pick
I want what we have
A beautiful life
But the stillness
The stillness might eat me alive
As the album continues, Dacus’ lyricism continues to be the star. “Mogdiliani” in particular is a fusion of beautifully put allusions and references that push a narrative of longing and healing. As far as the opening of the track goes, we have biblical allusions with the lines, “‘Loving father, friend and son’ / Printed backwards on my shoulder blade / From leaning back on a plaque on a bench / I carry David’s name until it fades,” and then towards the end, there is a references to the art world, as the title refers to the Italian painter and sculptor, Amadeo Modigliani who was known for painting portraits with elongated faces.
Modigliani’s melancholy
got me long in the face
But I feel better when you call
Just to tell me how you are
How’d you do that?
How’s tomorrow so far?
You make me homesick for places
I’ve never been before
How’d you do that?
How’s tomorrow so far?
Instrumentally, this is a track that stands out for the experimentalism that lives within it. The syncopated and rhythmically escalating and de-escalating sounds add an intriguing layer to the album, which has thus far been fairly consistent and less complex.
“Talk” is a real turning point in the album. It reveals a shift in the relationship and puts the realization into perspective, calling it out. In specifics, the song describes this moment or realization where you’re not sure why you’re with someone beyond a physical connection. As Dacus suggests, all that is expected and wanted in the relationship is sex. She first sings, “Your body looming like a spectre / Hungry as a scythe / If you come reaping, I’ll come running / I still know what you like,” and then continues, “But just like they say / That you can never go home / I could not love you the same way / Two days in a row.”
Dacus sings all this while questioning why they never talk anymore, and why there’s an impermanence even in their physical connections, as she mentions how the best sex they had was in hotels and their most brutal fights were always in stairwells, which indicates a literal sense of fleetingness and removal in the relationship.
With this track, Dacus expresses a want for a deeper, prolonged connection that’s meaningful and stimulating apart from the body. And all the while she gives her perspective, she opens herself up to observation and question as she goes as far as to question herself and let self-doubt seep in as though her wants are not valid (which they definitely are).
Why can’t we talk anymore?
We usеd to talk for hours
Do I make you nervous or bored?
Or did I drink you to thе last drop?
Moving on, “For Keeps” takes on a lighter acoustic tone. A soft guitar carries the song and supports Dacus’ sweet voice as she reminisces on what could be if she and the subject of her song tried to make something work. Though, in the end, she dashes her hopes by resituating her mind in reality, saying, “I don’t believe in anything anymore / Except you-and-me supremacy / But I still miss you when I’m with you / ‘Cause I know we’re not playing for keeps.”
Track 8, “Forever Is a Feeling,” the title track of the album, is uniquely special as it is supported vocally by Dacus’ Boygenius pals, Julien Baker and Phoebe Bridgers. This is a song that clearly outlines the duality of falling in love.
You knew the scenic route
I knew the shortcut and shut my mouth
Isn’t that what love’s about?
Doing whatever to try it out
This is bliss
This is hell
Forever is a feeling
And I know it well
There’s an inherent conflict in infatuation and falling in love. An uncertainty saturates it because the expiration date is relatively unknown to all parties involved, and more so, the process of falling in love isn’t linear. Now, as far as instrumentalism goes, this is all reflected. This song is sparkly and more adventurous than other songs on the project, meaning the keys are jaunty and the synths move in a sonically astra-adjacent way. There’s something cosmic to the movement, which adds to the sentiment of floaty instability as the narrative of skepticism about the state of things is told.
“Come Out” is an easy standout on the album. Glimmering in its instrumentation, and heavily verbose in the lyricism, it sounds like a spiraling letter or a stream of consciousness journal entry, that’s both playful and sincere. The song is entirely whimsical and dreamy, and once again, full of longing. With a harp in the background, Dacus begs for the one she loves to be in closer proximity to her as she describes various vignettes of things, scenes, people, and occasions that remind her of them.
She also goes as far as to suggest that the distance between them would always be great, and no matter how close they are, her longing would prevail, “Why am I not wherever you are? / There is no distance that wouldn’t be too far / Even on opposite sides of the room / I am orbiting you.”
So come out, come out, wherever you are
I miss you, I miss you, I miss you in my arms
Come out, come out, there’s no need to hide
I want you, I want you, I want you by my side
“Best Guess” is perhaps the most explicitly sensual and simultaneously romantic song on the album. In this more blues-inspired song, Dacus describes her love as her addiction and essentially devotes herself to her subject. With a delicate instrumental composition as her foundation, the sincerity of Dacus’ voice comes through with breathtaking clarity and qualifies the song as all the more endearing as it paints such striking scenes of intimacy and want.
You may not be an angel
But you are my girl
You are my pack a day
You are my favorite place
You were my best friend before you were
My best guess at the future
You are my best guess
If I were a gambling man, and I am
You’d be my best bet
You are my best guess at the future
Featuring Hozier, “Bullseye” is harmonious in all senses of the word. For one, Dacus’ and Hozier’s voices blend so seamlessly that mesmerizing seems the only word adequate enough to describe it. Their tones align addictively and work together gorgeously to execute the stunning delivery of Dacus’ lyrical prowess. As for what the song is actually about, the song details a breakup. Though it does so with a visceral tenderness and an air of fragility.
There are moments in the song where it seems like hands are grasping at lingering memories. It’s lines like, “I’ll miss borrowin’ your books to read your notes in the margin / The closest I came to readin’ your mind” and “Found some of your stuff at the new house / Packed it on accident when I was movin’ out / Probably wrong to think of them as your gifts to me / More like victims of my sentimentality” that reveal a certain brand of care and attentiveness that cannot be denied. Though it’s an admittedly heartbreaking little tune, the song holds with it an infinite fondness, that serves as proof that love can exist even if it’s a little too desperate and a little too young.
Shifting the tone again, we traverse sonically to the land of outlaws. Led by a stronger, grittier, far more edgier guitar than we’ve seen anywhere else in the album, Dacus is once again joined by Julien Baker and creates a summery landscape in “Most Wanted Man” that couldn’t be more full of love than it already is.
Sitting on the kitchen counter
Counting bug bites on your thighs
Just another southern summer
Sweating bullets in the highs
Watermelon dripping down your chin
Laughing ’til you cry
Sweetest tears I ever tasted
Kissing salt out of your eyes
I’ve been circumventing your pet peeves
Bending over backwards
every time that you say please
I just wanna make you happy
Will you let me spend a lifetime trying?
Sweet and sentimental, the scenes Dacus details are honest, genuine, and wholly realistic. Between the remark about watermelon juice to the one about counting bug bites and holding hands under a table, it’s incredibly relatable, which is what gives the song the draw it has. It’s all about knowing and being known and the process of it with the ultimate goal being just that – knowing. “Most Wanted Man” is an ode to companionship and the act of discovery and enjoying the moment without placing expectations that would taint the romance – “I promise anything you give me / Is something I will keep / We can burn it when it’s done.”
“Lost Time” is a song of beginnings, though it comes at the end of this remarkable project. To put it simply, this might just be a perfect song and might be better left without placing too much outward commentary on it. So with that, on it I’ll just say – as far as confessions of love and adoration go, this is as unperformative and raw as you can get, despite it being one that is literally in a song to be performed in front of massive crowds of people. It is a precious song with a precious sentiment that just about solves the turmoil of ambiguity and insecurity from the bulk of the album.
I notice everything about you, I can’t help it
It’s not a choice, it’s been this way since we met
‘Cause I love you, and every day
That I knew and didn’t say
Is a crying shame
It’s a crime
A waste of space
Lost time
Forever Is a Feeling is ultimately is a declaration of love despite disorder and doubt.
Across sonically expressive and alternative planes and lyrically dense dissections of the shades of romances, breakups, and those stages after and in-between, Lucy Dacus delivers a dazzling project that easily makes up for any “Lost Time” as far as voicing love goes.
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© Will St. John
© Will St. JohnForever Is a Feeling
an album by Lucy Dacus
