Notes

Lucy Dacus - Home Video Album Review
Lucy Dacus, a shy high schooler who loved writing, is now an iconic indie rock artist. Her voice is powerful and confident, floating over chords that twist, twist and twirl. Her lyrics, which are witty and sharp, give you the chance to see a world both intimate and universal.


Dacus has written about everything from her first female friendships to her violent feelings towards a violent boyfriend, all with a large-eyed realism and small-town charm that many songwriters spend their entire lives trying to perfect. Dacus is a master storyteller and her sophomore album Historian was hailed by critics as one of the best albums from 2021.


This time, she's back with Home Video, an album that's both more intimate and ambitious than its predecessor. It's a record of relationships, both romantic and platonic. It is a record that finds the Richmond native delving into her personal life with grace and vulnerability.



The album's opener track "Thumbs," Dacus tells an interesting story about her initial days as a musician, playing an acoustic instrument and singing songs she'd composed for a crowd of strangers. The singer then shifts towards a grand piano and sings about feeling lost in a crowd of people, and you can feel the emotion on every note.


The sense of intimacy and openness is present throughout Home Video, as does a sound that feels more refined and focused in comparison to her previous recordings. Dacus, who is also part of boygenius with Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker and others has opted for an easier sound that allows her to display the power of her words.


Lucy Dacus Wooden Base Lamp 's also enlisted several different musicians to contribute to the album, including producers Ben Tatar (Josh & the Romantics) and Collin Pastore (Bridgers), and back vocalists such as Jasmin Savoy Brown (Yellowjackets) and E.R. Fightmaster (Say Anything).


Dacus is an accomplished performer, but her innate ability to connect with her audience is what makes her live shows a truly memorable experience. She treated her audience at Valley Bar to a night that was full of joy. She opened with a new song, before moving through her most popular songs from No Burden and Historian before closing by singing the sweet ballad "Please Stay." The encore was more rousing when she reunited with her two Boygenius bandmates to sing their own contributions to the album. Their melodies huddle around the Acoustic guitar as Dacus describes her partner's messy house, which has clothes drying in the dryer and dishes in the kitchen sink. She asks "Don't let me see this," not wanting to get lost in the visual.



Lucy Dacus has released her third album Home Video. She is one of the most lovable and honest artists in the indie rock scene currently. In her observations and wit, as well as in her lyrics, she has an eye for the way small interactions between people gradually become so long they become monumental.


Dacus has been offered national tours by 20 labels which includes Matador (who signed her). Home Video was the first time she broke free from the limitations that governed her music prior to pianos and acoustic guitarists. She also shed the stigma of being tied to the folk genre of Americana.


Instead, Dacus delved into a number of unique memories from her childhood and teenage years. The 11 tracks explore elementary school crushes close friendships with bad fathers and boyfriends who didn't care along with religious summer camp and teenage heartbreak. On these tracks she calls on her boygenius groupmates Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker to lend sweeping choruses to her personal stories of grief and development. This is a deeply personal album that is more intimate than any of her earlier albums.


Website: https://www.lucydacusmerch.com/