Home Video by Lucy Dacus

Lucy Dacus has a gorgeous voice, soft and warm like a fresh-from-the-dryer flannel. She’s been on my radar since her debut album, No Burden, came out about five years ago. Natively from Virginia, the Philadelphia-based singer/songwriter has been slowly sinking her songs into my mind ever since. That pace quickened with her involvement in boygenius, the supergroup she formed with Julien Baker and Phoebe Bridgers back in 2018 (still waiting for a full-length from the trio…).

Home Video, Dacus’s third full-length, finally packed enough punch to push herself to the front of the queue and land her on the Bacon Top 31. Over the past few years, she’s managed to hit a level of intimacy and directness with her songwriting that is in direct contrast to the smooth beauty of her voice. The influences of Baker and Bridgers are clear (they each appear on the album on a handful of songs). But I also hear less likely influences, like Neko Case, St. Vincent, and Sharon van Etten. If any of those names are favorites of yours, you need to add Lucy Dacus to your list.

As part of the promotion for Home Video, Dacus appeared on the Song Exploder podcast. If you’re not familiar, Song Exploder, created and hosted by Hrishikesh Hirway, is great: artists come on and go into deep detail around a song of theirs – how it came into being, how it was performed and recorded in the studio, what it means to them, etc. The particular brilliance of the podcast is that Hirway mostly edits himself asking the artist questions out of the podcast. This leaves us, the listener, with the artist having a direct, seemingly 1-on-1 conversation with us, describing their songs in intimate detail.

For her episode, Dacus talked about “Thumbs,” my absolute favorite song on the album. This song is a gut punch. Hearing how it came together and how personal it is to Dacus is amazing. Even if the album on the whole isn’t your bag, I don’t see how you can’t love this song, and I recommend listening to the podcast just to hear it.

Pfffft. There’s no way this whole album isn’t your bag.

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24. I’ll Be Your Mirror: A Tribute to The Velvet Underground & Nico by Various Artists
25. Siamese Dream by Fruit Bats
26. NINE by Sault
27. Observatory by Aeon Station
28. The Monster Who Hated Pennsylvania by Damien Jurado
29. A Beginner’s Mind by Sufjan Stevens and Angelo De Augustine
30. Where the End Begins by Knathan Ryan
31. Private Space by Durand Jones & The Indications

There are many ways to listen to the 2021 Bacon Top 31. Subscribe now and enjoy the new albums / songs as the countdown is completed!

Full Album
All albums in their entirety.

Radio Station
A single song selection pulled from each album.

View all previous Bacon Top 31s