2019

バレンタインや米国独立記念日などの記念日をテーマにしたLucy Dacusの『2019』シリーズが12インチで発売!

米ヴァージニア州リッチモンド出身の女性SSW、Lucy Dacusが『2019』という名のシリーズで1年に渡りデジタルで発表してきた特定の祝日に関連したオリジナル曲やカバー曲からなる作品を12インチでリリース!
Bruce Springsteenの誕生日と共に自身のお父さんの誕生日を祝ってのBruce Springsteenのカバー曲「Dancing In The Dark」(リリース後1週間で米国のカレッジ・ラジオで最も放送されたシングル)や、ハロウィンをテーマにしたPhil Collins のカバー曲「In The Air Tonight」、またクリスマスをテーマにした「Last Christmas」のカバー曲や元日をテーマにした「Fools Gold」も収録される。

After releasing her widely acclaimed sophomore album, Historian, in 2018, indie singer/songwriter Lucy Dacus returned on Valentines Day of 2019 with a cover of the Edith Piaf classic La Vie en Rose. Loyally wistful but vitalized with a simmering, eighth-note guitar pulse and full drums, Dacus version develops into something lively and shimmering, though its steered, as usual, by her distinctly unassuming, custard-rich vocals. More song releases, all associated with holidays or special occasions, followed throughout the year, culminating in the seven-track EP 2019. The last one to be revealed -- a melancholy, New Year-themed original called Fools Gold -- opens the track list with an intimate tone, squeaky fretboard navigation, and the line I drank the dregs of the champagne alone. With a thoughtful heavy-heartedness established, New Years and Valentines Day lead into the Mothers Day offering My Mother & I, an original song and EP highlight. Spare and both comforting and yearning, it starts with only arpeggiated guitar and Dacus explaining My mother hates her body/We share the same outline/She swears that she loves mine. While exploring connection and affection, the song gently swells, adding another vocal track and ghostly keyboards before ending with the striking couplet All is forgiven/All is forsaken. A final Dacus song, Forever Half Mast, corresponds to Independence Day before the EP closes with three covers. A fairly routine Dancing in the Dark honors Bruce Springsteens birthday (also her fathers) and is followed by a fascinating Halloween selection in a dramatic version of Phil Collins In the Air Tonight which, being high-contrast and uncanny to begin with, doesnt deviate far from the original. The EPs big payoff track is a completely reimagined Last Christmas that delivers a punky, fuzzy bop with retro-fashioned spoken word segments. Easily surpassing a thematic exercise, 2019 has some essential original material by Dacus -- particularly My Mother & I -- and a handful of covers that are bound to provide a lasting preferred version (or two) for fans. ~ Marcy Donelson