When I call up Lucy Dacus she has some big plans after our interview. No, it’s not that she’s preparing to embark on a new leg of her tour, or working on the follow-up to 2018’s acclaimed Historian. When I ask how things are going she lets me know she’s about to eat some banana bread and that makes life pretty enjoyable, at the moment.
It’s that sort of relatable, down-to-earth perspective that has made Dacus one of the biggest breakthroughs of the second half of this decade. Not that her music is plain, or deals in the mundane. No, her songs are big, searching, and emotional. But, her voice and lyrics build a sense of familiarity. Whatever she sings about you find yourself mining your own past for a connective thread to her music. She’s one of the breakthrough artists of the second half of this decade.
With the recent release of 2019, an EP that’s a mix of new songs and covers, Dacus has placed her final stamp on the decade. Starting with 2016’s breakthrough, No Burden, she hasn’t missed yet in her burgeoning career. She followed that up with Historian and then the internet-breaking boygenius EP that saw her team up with Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker. It’s been a fast and dizzying rise that shows no signs of slowing down.
During our interview we talked about the new EP, how it feels to find yourself ranked above David Bowie, the boygenius collaboration, and doing Tarot readings with Lana Del Ray.
Allston Pudding: Maybe we could just start off and talk a little bit about the new EP release. I was wondering, where did the idea come from to do an EP to span throughout the year?
Lucy Dacus: The idea came after the songs. I’ve been recording music every couple months for three years that I knew wouldn’t end up on a record and just to get into the studio, learn more about engineering and mixing and instrumentation before putting out the next record.
So I just amassed all these songs that didn’t have a home and I don’t know, I wanted to share them and didn’t really know how. But then out of nowhere recognized the timing of each song or the way that each song connected to holidays and so it just felt like a perfect way to share each song individually. Now that I’ve done it, it was really fun and low stakes and low stress, and I would do it again, put out songs throughout the year.
AP: Would you say that it was a conscious decision when you were recording the song a few years ago that it was around a holiday or you just realized that later on?
LD: Realized it later on. “Last Christmas” we did because I really hate Christmas and we were in a studio in November. I just wanted to blow off some steam. I really thought no one here that, that’s the only one on the EP that I think is kind of dumb. The rest I’m pretty proud of.
AP: I think it’s great.
LD: Thanks. It is dumb though.
AP: It’s a dumb song in general, I think. What goes into the process of recording a cover? What kind of discussions do you have about the original with the band?
LD:Well, we talk through how loyal are we going to be, how do we make it new, why make it? Sometimes the answer is simple like I just love the song and want to do it, and try to do it as close as we can. “In the Air Tonight,” we tried to be pretty note for note and it was a really cool exercise to figure out how to copy the sounds with our own tools. That song alone taught me so much about keyboards and synths that we’ve definitely used on the next record, which I don’t know when that will be done. But yeah, I definitely benefited when it comes to growing my skill set from covering songs.
AP:What’s the discussion like when you ask your drummer to play one of the most famous drum fills of all time?
LD: What was the discussion?
AP: Yeah, how did he react to that?
LD: I said, “We should try this song.” He got there before I did. He was like, “Oh my God, that’s the best drum fill of all time. It would be an honor.” So yes, he was ready. I mean he already knew the entire song by heart. So it didn’t take much work.
AP: Recently you opened for Lana Del Ray and I saw she came out to sing “Night Shift” with you and I was wondering just how that all came about.
LD: So, she DMed me three days before that show and was like, “Hey, I’m a fan, wanted to know if you’d want to open.” I was checking to make sure it was really her, like this can’t be real. Then yeah, it was real. Luckily our tour ended in Grand Rapids, so we just drove three hours to Chicago and then she called me and asked, “What song do you want to do together? We could do, “I Don’t Want To Be Funny Anymore,” “Night Shift,” our cover of “Dancing in the Dark.” She had ideas, but we ended up doing “Night Shift” and she was actually pretty nervous just because the melody isn’t super repetitive or intuitive. It’s a seven minute song. She did good and she’s so sweet as a person. I felt so bad that she was nervous.
AP: Is there anything that you take away from seeing somebody who’s of that magnitude, and obviously not that you’re not successful, but somebody who’s in the stratosphere right now? What do you take away from meeting her and talking to her?
LD: After the show, me, her, Bethany from Best Coast, and her sister—we hung out for a couple of hours in the green room. Just talking about love and doing Tarot readings and things. Then we went outside and all these people had been waiting in the cold in Chicago to talk to her for hours and she was like, “Oh this is so sweet. Move the barrier.” She went out and hugged everyone, signed things, took photos. I would never have the energy to do that. I was just like, “I can’t believe the generosity you have with your fans.” She said, “Well to have one fan is a miracle.” I thought that was so sweet and amazing that she’s still aware of that, someone with millions of fans. The fact that she can recognize just the magic that goes into one fan believing in you. I’m probably going to remember that forever.
AP: Yeah, that’s incredible to hear somebody like that say that. I mean, so now we can expect a full meet and greet from you on your upcoming tour?
LD: [Laughing] I have to practice. I’m still kind of shy.
AP: I was wondering, do you have any feelings about this end of decade thing that’s going on right now? I’ve seen that Historian has popped up on a handful of lists that have come out. What’s your reaction to seeing one of your albums be praised as one of the best of the decade?
LD: I think it’s great. Whether my records were part of the list or not, I know a lot of people have a lot of contempt or feel forgotten or whatever. I guess that is the problem with the list, is forgetting records, because the function of the list is that I’ll be able to search it and listen to a bunch of records I skipped. I do that now. I’ll look at best of lists, like 2013. What were the best records before I had any music out and had never read a music blog? I’ll take interest and just listen to a bunch of records that everyone thought were great at the time. So, I like the cataloging element of it and the archival aspect. I’m always very touched when I’m included in this era of music. It doesn’t make much sense to me. But even as a reader, I think those lists have a place.
AP: When you say it doesn’t make much sense to you, what do you mean?
LD: I’ll see records that are, like the ranking doesn’t make sense, how is my record better than some record that influenced me? Like I’ve been ranked above different musicians, like David Bowie. It doesn’t feel real and it shows how arbitrary the numbers are. They must have some sort of voting system that makes that possible because it wouldn’t be possible. It’s just not possible to be better than David Bowie.
AP: Obviously, the boygenius collaboration was huge for everybody. It seems like more and more we’re seeing people being more collaborative. Do you think that’s just the people involved, or is it a new generation where people are just more willing to come together and see what happens?
LD: I don’t think we’re responsible for other people making super groups. I think we’re just a part of this cultural moment where people want to see people working together. I think that in every way that the world is cracking, people want art to put it back together. It is refreshing to see people work together and see women work together. I think that the more you see it, the more occurs to you that you can do it yourself.
I mean we were an accident, we were just going to go on tour together and the band was completely an afterthought that became the main thought. I would love to find out that people saw us and it occurred to them to start their own thing. I mean whenever people post videos of them covering our songs together, like that’s a very direct like, ‘oh my gosh, these high schoolers got together in a room and sang together.’ That’s enough. That’s the most beautiful thing that could have come from this.
AP: What did you personally take away from that collaboration with Phoebe and Julien?
LD: Being bolder with my songwriting. I feel like both Julien and Phoebe are so fearless with the things that they say. Julien just gets darker than I ever let myself go. Phoebe can be ridiculous and funny and also dark. I think that in my music I always wanted to make it approachable. I write so much music, but the only songs I ever shared were ones where I thought other people could relate or find themselves in a song. The really specific or personal songs I’ve kept to myself. But now I think we just dared each other to go further and I have been going further in the songs I’ve been writing. I feel like they’re personal and specific and vulnerable and I blame Phoebe and Julian for that.
Lucy Dacus plays Royale on 12/4. Grab tickets here.