4/5
Girlgenius
Forever music is found this New Music Friday with the release of singer-songwriter Lucy Dacus' brand-new album 'Forever Is A Feeling'. And it's much more than all of that. One-third of the Holy Trinity, heaven-sent triple-threat that is Boygenius (with Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker), this is Lucy in the sky with diamonds for the first time since 'The Record', or her last solo set ('The Rest') in 2023. Out now, on Geffen Record, 'Feeling' evokes singles like 'Ankles/Limerence', 'Best Guess' and the terrific 'Talk'. Not to mention a big collaboration with 'Hozier', hitting the 'Bullyseye' with a daredevil who has been unearthing all kinds of music of late. Yet after the classic 'Calliope Prelude' that opens everything up, it's 'Big Deal' that finds a yearning forever. Saving the best track...for first.
Inked across the bare chest, like the classic album artwork in a formidable frame, Lucy sings "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/Sincerely happy for the both of you/So what changеs, if anything?/Maybe everything can stay thе same/But if we never talk about it again/There’s something I want you to understand." That this girl is more than a kind of Burgundy big deal. Just like Dacus, whose album, just shy of April, is one for the year. So much so, that 'Forever Is A Feeling' that is about to embark on tour. 'Forever' features bandmates Bridgers and Baker, as well as contributions from Blake Mills, Bartees Strange, Melina Duterte and Madison Cunningham, who also features with 'Blood On The Page' for the first Mumford & Sons album since 2018's 'Delta', 'Rushmere', this week. Folks, rejoice!
On 'Modigliani' Lucy yearns for more spirit, singing ""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/Why does it feel significant?/Why do I have to tell you about it?/Trying to fall asleep, back flat on the floor/While you were eating continental breakfast in Singapore/You make me homesick for places I’ve never been before." Even more of the best leafs out of this calendar's songbook come from the sweet sound of 'Talk', that inspired me to talk my 'ish, and write my first song in months in that Boygenius signature style. From the titular track, to the 'Lost Time' evoking epic closer, it's never over. Not for this party that comes out like, "I missed your call because I was in a board room/Full of old men guessin' what the kids are getting into/There was a cardboard cutout of a cowboy in the corner/Pointin' his gun in my face/I don't belong here, nobody does/Except maybe those old men collecting dust."
The Virginia singer knows how to spin a yarn that even Dylan would blow a toy whistle at. Songwriting, poetry, or both? Your 'Best Guess' is as good as all of them. But it's the 'Most Wanted Man' that really nails up the best bounty to this artist's great reward. "Got me wrapped around your finger/Tied in a double knot/Just like our legs all double knotted/In the morning at the Ritz/$700 dollar room still drinking coffee from the Keurig/We're soaking up the luxuries on someone else's dime/Living the dream before we fully pass our prime." The book on Lucy is a holy one. In the same week of New Music from Santana, Yasiin Bey (AKA Mos Def) with The Alchemist, Will Smith and those sons, this is the biggest and best. Destroying and creating. Finding forever in those common moments we just wish we could hold on to, for only a little longer. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Playlist Picks: 'Big Deal', 'For Keeps', 'Bullseye (Feat. Hozier)'.
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