Richmond, Virginia-based Lucy Dacus releases, ‘Brando‘, another single from her highly regarded new album, ‘Home Video.’
One-third of indie supergroup ‘boygenius’, Dakus might have had the lowest profile when compared to her better-known bandmates, Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker, but across her solo work Dacus demonstrates she’s every bit as talented as her bandmates, and maybe even more so. She has a beautiful warmth to her voice, and an impressive control in her performances which means her sharply observed lyrics and very fine ear for a memorable melody maintain a strikingly high standard across the three albums she has already released.
On ‘Brando’, the track leads with that lovely, rich vocal, alongside some heavily processed drums and a soft synth pad, before the rest of the instruments come in. The tracks builds steadily, with guitars, keys, drums and some especially lovely backing vocals, but thanks to some fine production work, the instrumentation never comes even vaguely close to overwhelming Dacus’ velvet–soft vocal. Like the rest of the album, the lyrics are sourced from her teenage years, and this song relates to a music and film-obsessed boyfriend who was keener to project his own narrative onto Dacus, rather than have any interest in her own story. “You called me “cerebral” // I didn’t know what you meant // But now I do, would it have killed you // To call me pretty instead? // I’m in a second story window // And you’re yelling at me, “Stella!” // And I’m laughing ’cause you think you’re Brando // But you’ll never come close.”
For the video, Dacus invited fans to send in footage of themselves dancing, skateboarding, ice skating, etc. to the song. With over a hundred submissions, the video was edited together and released by her label, Matador Records. It’s fun and lighthearted, capturing the joy of her mainly, but not exclusively, young fans as they express themselves to the song. “Big thank you to everyone who submitted,” says Dacus. “These videos brought me a lot of joy and made me feel more connected to the song and all of you.”
Lucy Dacus is a real talent. Expect even bigger things ahead.
