MAR 28
LUCY DACUS - "FOREVER IS A FEELING" | REVIEW
BY LUNA CARDOSO
Lucy Dacus has long been one of indie rock's most insightful songwriters, creating narratives that balance genuine vulnerability and poetic universality. Her ability to make even the most intimate moments incredibly relatable is a testament to her artistry. With Forever is a Feeling, she creates an album that delves into the weight of memory, the pain of unspoken love, and the frail strands that bind us to our pasts. It's an album about longing, reckoning, and silent devastation wrapped in her signature combination of hushed intimacy and soaring catharsis.
A portrait of love and loss.
Forever is a Feeling explores love in all its forms—unfulfilled, fleeting, lasting, and impossible. Tracks like Big Deal and Limerence address the pain of loving someone who is unavailable, while For Keeps and Best Guess delve into the fragile yet hopeful optimism of a future with someone. Dacus captures not only the highs and lows of relationships but also the paradoxes and the tug-of-war between desire and restraint.
In Big Deal, Dacus sings about an unattainable love while wearing a "pinstriped suit," representing both formality and distance. The track builds with a steady urgency, with her repeated "you're a big deal" sounding both affirmative and regretful. Limerence adopts a more chaotic approach, expressing the internal conflict of needing something self-destructive—"Is there a difference between lying to you / If it feels just as bad as telling the truth?"
Intimacy and sensuality.
Dacus has never been shy about exploring physicality but Forever is a Feeling has some of her most openly sensual writing. Ankles is a notable example, mixing lust and vulnerability as she begs, "Pull me by the ankles to the edge of the bed / And take me like you do in your dreams." The contrast between desire and domesticity—fantasies and crossword puzzles over morning tea—gives the song a bittersweet realism that pervades the album.
Bullseye takes a different approach, using archery as a metaphor for young love that burns hot but eventually fades. "Holding each other so tight we got stuck" is a line that captures the delicate balance of passion and captivity, a theme that also runs throughout the album.
The weight of time and memory.
If there's one defining part of Forever is a Feeling, it's how time molds relationships, for better or worse. Modigliani is a breathtaking reflection on nostalgia and the ghosts of past love. Whilst Talk delves into the silent unwinding of a relationship, where the absence of talk indicates something more than distance. "Why was our best sex in hotels / And our worst fights in their stairwells?" she wonders, highlighting the strange contradictions that define intimacy.
Come Out turns the concept of distance into longing, with a desperate chorus that says, "I miss you, I miss you, in my arms." It's a song about the need for physical or emotional proximity, and Dacus' performance is both delicate and tragic.
A stunning closing statement.
The album's final track, Lost Time, is a poignant reflection on regret for unspoken thoughts and moments squandered in hesitation. The small, observational details—folded clothes, pearls on a dresser, a broken gold chain—create a scene so vivid that it feels like entering someone else's memory. It's a perfect conclusion to an album fascinated with time—how it moves, traps us, and ultimately defines the way we love.
Lucy Dacus' Forever is a Feeling cements her reputation as one of her generation's most compelling lyricists. The album is a masterclass in storytelling, combining fragments of love, regret, and longing to create something timeless. It is an album that demands to be felt rather than listened to. Whether you're healing an old hurt or celebrating a new love, there's a song here that will speak to you and possibly break you a little. Isn't that what the best music is meant to do?
