Atwood Journal’s writers talk about Lucy Dacus’ stunningly intimate, fantastically radiant, and lyrically wealthy fourth album ‘Eternally Is a Feeling,’ unpacking its nuanced meditations on love, time, vulnerability, and what it means to actually “benefit from it.”
Featured listed below are Atwood writers Bárbara Martínez Campuzano, Christine Buckley, Josh Weiner, and Mitch Mosk!
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To start out, what’s your relationship with Lucy Dacus’ music?
Josh Weiner: I like her as a lot as the following man. I haven’t made it by means of her full catalogue, however I listened to a few of her most up-to-date data in addition to her work with boygenius, so I can verify that she is a proficient musician and powerful vocalist.
Bárbara Martínez Campuzano: I’ve listened to Lucy Dacus for fairly some time now. Albums like Residence Video or Historian include songs that I take heed to every day, and I particularly like boygenius and the way in which the three artists (Phoebe, Lucy, and Julien) work collectively. Their album the report was one among my favorites of 2023.
Christine Buckley: I’d recognized of Lucy for awhile however didn’t actually get into her and her music till I received into boygenius. She is such an unbelievable poet – she’s even stated issues about how she solely actually writes music to get her lyrics on the market, not the opposite method round. I really like how lyrically dense her songs are usually, and the way actually uncooked they’re. Her track “Afraid of Heights” from the boygenius EP “the remainder” is one among my favourite songs of 2024.
Mitch Mosk: Whereas I undoubtedly knew about Lucy Dacus previous to boygenius, it was the discharge of that first boygenius EP in 2018 that put her squarely on my radar for good – after which Residence Video was the primary album of hers that I consciously and actively listened to in full. I suppose you would name me a passive fan, in that I don’t at all times deliberately search her out, however I by no means pause a Lucy Dacus track as soon as it’s on – that observe’s getting performed throughout.
What are your preliminary impressions and reactions to Eternally Is a Feeling?
Bárbara: It’s a good album with good manufacturing, though I believe I received so used to guitars from tracks of boygenius that I barely missed that little bit of rock on this new album. I used to be stunned that this album is sweeter, extra romantic; I really feel the identical Lucy Dacus we’ve recognized from her previous three albums continues to be there, however the themes have reworked.
Christine: Lucy has at all times been a grasp of a gradual construct, and she or he’s carried out it once more on Eternally is a Feeling – the album itself and plenty of of its songs, particularly the nearer “Misplaced Time.” As with all her albums although I’ve needed to give it a number of listens to know extra of the references and metaphors, and I’m unsure I’ll ever truly perceive all of them. However that’s the mark of an excellent album – when you may hear one thing new every time, like a present that retains on giving.
Mitch: I’m not going to mince phrases right here: I believe it’s a masterpiece, a triumph, and an entire world unto itself. Not solely has Dacus created a complete universe of meditations, musings, and ruminations on love – what it means to like one other, what it means to be cherished by one other, the way it feels to fall in love, and the way it feels to fall out of affection – however she has additionally carried out so inside a recognizable sonic framework that can eternally be distinct, recognizable, and related to this album, Eternally Is a Feeling. Each pay attention has, to date, left me with new reminiscences and cherished moments.
For me, all 13 of those tracks really feel like intimate puzzle items – particular person elements of a bigger image that had been painted or printed, after which carved up and separated for us, the viewers, to take pleasure in in bite-sized quantities. You have got some excessive highs (“Ankles”), achingly uncooked low lows (“Speak”), and a whole lot of advanced emotional in-betweens – these shades and hues that fill the gaps and outline a lot of our on a regular basis lives. I believe this report is sleek in its unfiltered, unapologetic vulnerability; Dacus fearlessly sings the quiet elements aloud, giving an actual life voice to the smaller one inside our heads – the one asking questions that we don’t actually need to reply. The artist clearly bled – metaphorically, symbolically, possibly even actually – to make this music; in any case, how else do you get a line like, “That is bliss, that is Hell; eternally is a sense and I do know it properly“… You actually have to sit down in your ache to get there, to convey it to life, and to make it your album’s title. So for all these causes, I’m not simply grateful to have this album out on this planet, however I’m particularly grateful to Lucy Dacus for digging deep to create one thing that helps somebody like me do my very own digging.
How does this album examine to 2021’s Residence Video – what are probably the most placing similarities or variations?
Bárbara: Each albums present one thing that Lucy Dacus does expertly: Honesty, poetic lyrics, and autobiography. This new album is extra acoustic, reflecting extra introspection and what might be thought-about extra love and fervour associated, whereas Residence Video was extra of an indie rock album with bursts of vitality and rhythm. Within the new album, Lucy Dacus is a grown lady with classes realized and issues skilled, whereas Residence Video is about her childhood or her teenage years seen in retrospection.
Mitch: I bear in mind Residence Video hitting exhausting, and standout songs like “Sizzling & Heavy” and “VBS” nonetheless resonate with me to this present day, however personally, the album as an entire doesn’t have the identical cohesive depth and connective tissue that I really feel from Eternally Is a Feeling. To be clear, each Lucy Dacus album wears its coronary heart on its sleeve and is particular for any variety of causes – I can select moments in No Burden and Historian that proceed to resonate as properly – however for no matter motive, I’ve come to know this newest album not simply as a group of songs, however as a standalone cinematic universe of types. There’s a high quality to Eternally Is a Feeling that binds every observe to its fellow songs on each a lyrical and musical degree, so whereas “Ankles” could also be a far cry from “Limerence,” which is a far cry from “Modigliani,” which is a far cry from “Speak” (word: these 4 songs come one after the opposite within the tracklisting), all of them share some thematic and theatrical DNA.
Clearly Eternally Is a Feeling isn’t a “idea” album by any means, and love is a reasonably large umbrella, however Lucy Dacus has succeeded right here in creating the feeling that once I press play on any one among these songs, I’m coming into a particular a part of her world – a soundscape and panorama that’s distinctive to this individual, to this second, to this music. I believe this report does what most of the most celebrated albums of the previous sixty-something years do finest – going past a mere “assortment of songs,” providing one thing greater, conceptually or in any other case, that in so some ways feels bigger than life. Actual or imagined, that’s my lived expertise with this LP.
Dacus teased Eternally Is a Feeling with “Ankles,” “Limerence,” “Finest Guess,” and “Speak.” Are these singles trustworthy representations of the album?
Bárbara: These songs are trustworthy representations of the album they usually could even be among the many favorites, particularly “Ankles” and “Speak.” Falling in and falling out of affection, however largely being in love is the honesty that Eternally Is a Feeling encapsulates. As a result of Lucy Dacus has confirmed she is in a relationship with Julien Baker, this love story could have simply impressed an ideal album, teased by the loyal tracks like “Ankles” and “Finest Guess.” Though “Limerence” and “Speak” may present extra doubt or concern, they’re meant to. Love is a complexity and Dacus demonstrates it properly.
Christine: I cherished “Ankles” when it got here out, the low, soothing harmonies of Dacus’ voice on this one appeared to completely go together with the hilarious music video. I’ve been advised over the course of my life that I’ve a reality like a lady in a Renaissance portray – each in complimentary and insulting methods – so Lucy masquerading as a noblewoman which her cherubic eyes and porcelain pores and skin made me smile actual massive. I hadn’t recognized what the phrase “Limerence” meant til I heard that track, however that one certain resonated as properly, as did the lyrics about staying busy to keep away from your emotions and fake you’re on the suitable course. Kind of want she would have launched “Bullseye” as a single however that’s traditional Lucy, burying the lede (the collab with Hozier).
Mitch: I’m going to say “sure” right here, for all the causes Bárbara and Christine already talked about above: Emotionally, musically, lyrically, these tracks helped set the scene for a daring, breathtakingly lovely reckoning with love full of tender orchestral nuance, soul-stirring reflections on intimacy, and shiver-inducing moments of catharsis and confession. “Finest Guess” has nonetheless not left my head, months later – it’s one among my favourite tracks off the album, each as a listener and as a romantic. “Speak” can be proper up there – whereas it’s the musical and emotional antithesis of “Finest Guess” in a whole lot of methods, it’s so uncovered, passionate, and achingly uncooked – which, for me, made it one other immediately memorable hit.
The title observe finds Dacus singing, “That is bliss, that is hell, eternally is a sense and I do know it properly.” What do you make of the album’s title, and what does it imply to you?
Bárbara: The album’s title is one good phrase, and it’s each poetic and romantic. “Eternally is a sense” signifies that “eternally” is extra of sentiment, emotion, than it’s concerning time. In love, individuals often say “eternally,” however maybe nothing lasts eternally and it implies the expertise, the sensation, is price remembering however not eternal.
Christine: The fangirl in me likes to suppose it has one thing to do with Dacus’ girlfriend and boygenius bandmate Julien Baker as a result of I simply love their cute story of getting collectively – and I wouldn’t put it previous Lucy to speak frankly about how an exquisite, eternally relationship may have spots of hell. And later within the track she references a zipper tie, and Julien’s received a track known as “Ziptie” from Little Oblivions… however hey, don’t get me began down this rabbit gap. Suffice it to say that it appears to be about feeling you could need to be with somebody eternally, however even when that modifications, it may nonetheless be okay and doesn’t diminish the love you had with that individual.
Mitch: Oof. What else is there to say, ? Love is without doubt one of the finest experiences an individual can have, and but it may additionally produce a few of our most painful moments – and that’s not simply falling out of affection. The arguments may be extra heated, extra nuanced. It’s these closest to you, not strangers, who can twist the dagger within the deepest. And but, you proceed to like your individuals. You’re keen on them for who they’re – even for his or her failings and their shortcomings; you don’t attempt to change them. You’re keen on them, and that love comes with sacrifice.
Someplace within the rollout for this album, Dacus was quoted saying the next: “Falling in love, falling out of affection. You must destroy issues with a view to create issues. And I did destroy a very lovely life. You may’t truly seize eternally. However I believe we really feel eternally in moments. I don’t understand how a lot time I’ve spent in eternally, however I do know I’ve visited.”
Pair that with the lyric, “That is bliss, that is hell, eternally is a sense and I do know it properly,” and I believe you begin to cobble collectively a form of retrospective on the highs and lows of a lifelong journey – and that’s, our relationship with love itself. The faces may change over time – we definitely hope they don’t, however they could – however the feeling stays the identical; it is available in moments, in passing waves, in fleeing, however cherished walks down reminiscence lane. It comes after we least count on it, and leaves far too quickly, and it’s one thing price holding onto if you happen to can seize ahold of it. I don’t know this for certain, however I believe I see a little bit of Dacus’ perspective, and never solely do I get it, however I additionally respect precisely the place she’s coming from and why she feels the way in which she does. Dwell a lifetime with love, and you’ll, too.
Which track(s) stand out for you on the album, and why?
Bárbara: “Bullseye” is a good and heartfelt collaboration with Hozier. “Ankles” and “Large Deal” are maybe one among my favorites as properly. “Ankles” is sensual, a daydreamy track which may as properly come out of a film soundtrack. The acoustic guitar in “Large Deal” may give off the identical vitality and dream-like atmosphere, together with Dacus’ soothing voice and lyrics.
Mitch: Okay, sizzling take – “Bullseye” is not my favourite track. I really like a pleasant duet and I believe Hozier’s presence on this report is heat and welcoming, however that’s not the track I’m left singing in my head. I discussed the ache of “Speak” and the candy gentle of “Finest Guess” earlier – whereas I don’t often fall headfirst (excuse the pun) for an album’s singles, these two proceed to have me in a chokehold. And I’m loving it.
Christine: I just like the croony parts of “Limerence,” together with its creepiness and its enjoying with tempo. “Bullseye” is the form of Americana like, a swingy acoustic track that you just may name nation if you happen to added a slide guitar. I listened to “Ankles” a number of instances in a row simply because I like these chugging strings on the outset, and I just like the lyrical juxtaposition of wanton physicality with the domesticity of tea and the crossword.
Do you might have any favourite lyrics to date? Which strains stand out?
Bárbara: The road mentioned earlier from “Eternally Is a Feeling,” in addition to “You make me homesick for locations I’ve by no means been earlier than” from “Modigliani.” There are lots of lovely and/or robust lyrics within the album, like in “Bullseye” with Hozier: “The solutions to the questions solely made extra questions / I hope you’re by no means absolutely happy.” In a track that talks about younger love nostalgia, the lyrics have a richfulness to transmit it.
Christine: From “Limerence”: “I’m simply shoveling popcorn into my mouth / So I don’t say the issues I’m considering out loud.” I associated to that.
Mitch: The breakdown in “Finest Guess” is a tiny recognition that love just isn’t perfection, however moderately a continuing work in progress – as a result of we, ourselves, are fixed works in progress. I believe that’s one of the vital human strains I’ve ever heard sung, and I’m so grateful to Lucy Dacus for recognizing and accepting our flaws as part of who all of us are. Hollywood-style romances don’t exist in the true world, and it’s excessive time we began speaking about love in additional life like phrases. As somebody who’s in love together with his finest good friend – for almost ten years and counting – I’m absolutely onboard with how Dacus humanizes these larger-than-life emotions that each one too simply eat us complete.
In spite of everything, it’s a small world
You might not be an angel
However you might be my lady
You’re my pack a day
You’re my favourite place
You had been my finest good friend earlier than you had been
My finest guess on the future
Dacus closes the album with the track “Misplaced Time,” singing, “Nothing lasts eternally however let’s see how far we get, so when it comes my flip to lose you, I’ll have made probably the most of it.” If this album is a meditation on love and time, what do you make of its conclusions?
Bárbara: The primary conclusion of the album might be that, for love, you should be all-in, dedicated to the individual, and dedicated to understanding that maybe it’s a win, maybe in the long run it’s a loss, however it’s nice whereas it lasts. Love is dangerous and harmful, and it’s declared regardless of concern, doubt, or any difficulties.
Christine: It’s undoubtedly that theme of being comfortable with wanting one thing to final eternally as a result of it’s so nice, but in addition realizing in some meta method that the chances of it truly lasting eternally are very low, so that you enable your self to each respect it as “feeling” like eternally even when your rational thoughts says it gained’t – and being comfortable with holding all that in your mind and your coronary heart. A frightening process however I suppose if anybody can do it, Lucy can.
Mitch: To reply that with one other quote, “That is bliss, that is Hell; eternally is a sense and I do know it properly.” We will’t assist however love – it’s in our nature, it’s part of our DNA – and from all the things she’s sung about on this report, it’s secure to say she believes it’s higher to have cherished and misplaced, than by no means to have cherished in any respect. That’s half one of many album’s two main takeaways; I believe the second is to, as she says, benefit from it – to like unabashedly and unapologetically, to like wholeheartedly and deliberately. You may go an entire week saying “I really like you” to your accomplice, with out enthusiastic about what these phrases imply. Autopilot comes straightforward; don’t fall into that lure. Bear in mind what these phrases imply whenever you say them; really feel their weight, really feel their depth and heft. To like and be cherished is a privilege, and I believe by means of this album, Lucy Dacus acknowledges simply how highly effective love really is.
The place do you’re feeling Eternally Is a Feeling sits within the pantheon of Lucy Dacus’ discography?
Bárbara: It could not sit on the prime of the listing, however this can be a watershed in Lucy Dacus’ profession. Whereas a few of her prime or recognized songs are about heartbreak or different gloomy matters (like “Nightshift”), on this album we see a modified Dacus, one that’s in love or that displays on it from a greater place, and it reveals within the acoustics, the lyrics, the emotion… There’s additionally the aftertaste of boygenius and the success from their previous album, now mixed with Lucy Dacus herself.
Christine: It’s exhausting to guage this one in opposition to the remainder of Dacus’ discography as a result of that is the one one which’s come post-boygenius-world-domination. Not that simply because she has three Grammys and worldwide fame now, however extra as a result of she’s been by means of an enormous quantity between her final solo album and now – collaborative songwriting, world journey, new love, a press tour to finish all press excursions. In the long run it’s an evolution of her sound in which you’ll hear her bandmates’ affect (Phoebe Bridgers on “Limerence,” Baker on “Misplaced Time”), or not less than I flatter myself into considering I can hear it. However she’s nonetheless her introspective self, and it’s nonetheless a Lucy Dacus album that can make me cry each unhappy and glad tears.
Josh: I haven’t listened to all of her music, however I’m snug saying that is about nearly as good as her current work with boygenius and all.
Mitch: All of my soapboxing on love apart, I actually suppose Eternally Is a Feeling finds Lucy Dacus – the singer and the songwriter – at her most weak, her most uncovered, her most genuine, and her most expressive. I really feel the feelings in these songs in a method that I seldom expertise by means of most music, and even within the pantheon of Dacus releases – which is happening a full decade now – Eternally Is a Feeling stands out for its depth, its flare, its grace, its subtlety, and its coronary heart. I do suppose it’s the very best Lucy Dacus album but – as I stated on the prime, it’s a masterpiece, a triumph, and an entire world unto itself.
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an album by Lucy Dacus
