Lucy Dacus – Forever Is A Feeling

Indie Rock | Baroque Pop

59%

 

I’ve seen a few times on social media where people have struggled to connect with a period piece of film/tv because the cast feels too modern. “That’s clearly the face of someone who knows what TikTok is” perhaps is the best way I’ve heard the sensation described. Hollywood’s beauty standards prioritising flawless store-bought smiles over accuracy. Your brain just subconsciously knows that a medieval peasant doesn’t look like Ryan Gosling, some minor Georgian nobility isn’t gonna look like Sydney Sweeney etc. Your Austen and Bronte inspired period dramas aren’t meant to be about the two most beautiful people in the world having a perfect fairytale romance, they’re meant to be about ordinary people, experiencing a love as messy and flawed as they are. 

For me, Forever Is A Feeling suffers from a similar disconnect. Lucy’s greatest strength as a lyricist is in describing life’s rough edges, how confusing it can be to navigate your emotions when your head is telling you one thing and your heart another. Forever is an album about falling in love. The doubt, the uncertainty, the rush. The way they possess your every thought, the way you second guess every thought and action, the way being loved in return makes you feel a better version of yourself. We can hear that captured in the lyricism (“I’m surprised that you’re the one who said it first, If you had waited a few years, I would’ve burst, Everything comes up to the surface in the end, Even the things we’d rather leave unspoken” on ‘Big Deal’, and “If the Dеvil’s in the details, Then God is in the gap in your teeth, You are doing the Lord’s work, Every time you smile at me” on ‘For Keeps’).

The trouble is that the emotional hurricane that is falling in love isn’t reflected in the arrangements. The elegant strings on ‘Ankles’ feel worlds apart from the raunchy lyrics, the opulent piano on ‘Limerence’, the jaunty Parisienne vibes and angelic harp of ‘Come Out’ crafting beautiful melodies that the lyrics strain and contort to fit around. It’s a thin façade that robs the words of some of their sincerity. The moments that most emotionally resonate with me end up being tracks like ‘For Keeps’ and the opening half of ‘Lost Time’, which strip things back into simple acoustic arrangements. Yet even here something is missing. Throughout the record Lucy’s voice carries the same pretty tone with little variation. I’ve heard much more range and passion from her voice before, in her past solo work and with Boygenius, and to hear her sing about confessing about a love so strong that it threatens to claw its way out, with such a flat delivery, further dulls the impact of her words. Having guest vocals from Hozier on ‘Bullseye’ just makes the issue more pronounced, as even a fairly understated performance from him has more expression that most of the rest of the record.

Much as I can’t complain too much about beautiful people on screen – enjoying on an aesthetic level even if they don’t sell me the story – this album still has moments where the melodies do enough heavy lifting to override the disconnect. ‘Ankles’ and ‘Best Guess’ in particular are home to some of Lucy’s best hooks to date. That just isn’t enough to carry the whole record though, and I spent most of the run time longing for something a bit more real. A single moment where I could actually feel the torrent of emotions being softly described to me.