Lucy Dacus’ fourth studio album, “Forever is a Feeling,” was released March 28 to the delight of fans who’ve been waiting since 2021 for her return to solo work.
Most recently, the singer has come into the spotlight as one third of Boygenius, the Grammy-nominated indie rock band, alongside Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker. But her career spans back much further than the group.
Dacus’ clear vocals and vividly nostalgic lyrics have carried her discography since 2016 with the release of her debut, “No Burden.” Her most recent album, “Home Video,” was largely a reflection on her personal experience growing up queer in a religious household in the South and the trials and tribulations of balancing her beliefs, identity and relationships — and the connections between all three. In contrast to this, “Forever is a Feeling” is the sound of Dacus finally settling comfortably into herself and getting ready to look forward.
Before hearing a single note, the album’s cover offers a hint of what’s to come. The oil painting features a cherubic Dacus wrapped in gold fabric surrounded by clouds. This aesthetic is brought to life in “Calliope Prelude,” the opening orchestral track, which sets the mood for an album that is further laced with the sound of strings and an introspective piano. Throughout, the album remains dreamy and classical sounding.
The soothing nature of her sound almost makes it easy to tune out what is consistently the strongest part of Dacus’ music: her writing. This album was no exception. Her deeply descriptive lyrics transport listeners not just into a moment in time, but into a subconscious of emotions that are often hard to put into words. Not for Dacus.
On the single “Limerence,” she opens the door to her home and brings her fans into the living room where her friends smoke and play “Grand Theft Auto” while she contemplates breaking someone's heart. Throughout the album she tells the story of ending one relationship and beginning another with, as she recently revealed in an interview in The New Yorker, bandmate Julien Baker. For suspect fans, the revelation is far from surprising, as the public profession affirms years-old speculations.
Baker, originally from Tennessee, gets her most pointed shoutout on “Most Wanted Man” when Dacus sings, “Cause who gets the chance like the one that I have?/To catch the most wanted man in West Tennessee?” But beyond that, the feeling of love is captured and put on display for everyone, like a bug in a net, throughout the album.
While sitting on a park bench in the track “Modigliani,” she describes the feeling of wanting to tell a partner about every bit of your day. On the title track, “Forever Is A Feeling,” she sings about driving the long way home to stay together and remembering things about them that might seem forgettable.
She sings on “For Keeps” about the devil in the details, but it’s Dacus herself who leaves no detail left unsaid, no thought left unturned, painting a picture of a love story familiar to so many yet often lost in the translation of inexpressible sentiments.
Most notable about the album is its larger theme of tentative queer love. The prevalence of queer art, and perhaps more importantly, queer joy, in mainstream music has seen huge growth recently, and Dacus and Boygenius have been at the helm of that movement. But it hasn’t just been a change in popular culture; it seems to be an attitude Dacus has been able to take on personally, too.
One easy-to-point-to example of this shift is the fact that this is the first album where she openly references a “she” in romantic songs. Despite remaining a little on edge, she’s no longer looking back on younger years of guilt and uncertainty over who she is or who she should be. On “Forever Is A Feeling,” Dacus acknowledges the fragility of love and boldly proclaims that she’s willing to move forward with it anyways, embracing the good and the bad.
If you can keep from being lulled into a daze by the sounds of the album, its story makes it easy to appreciate Dacus’ journey as she embraces the breath of fresh air that is queer joy and satisfaction — at a time when we need it more than ever. Both musically and personally, “Forever Is A Feeling” is a sign that she’s growing into exactly who fans will want to keep hearing from.
