Dacus mixes confession and intimacy on Ceaselessly is a Feeling. The EVEN MORE Freewheelin’ Jeffrey Lewis nods to Dylan’s early New York Metropolis folkie days, with an excellent track concerning the ache of existence.
TONYA MOSLEY, HOST:
That is FRESH AIR. Lucy Dacus is a younger singer-songwriter maybe finest often known as one-third of the trio boygenius, together with Julien Baker and Phoebe Bridgers. Jeffrey Lewis is a middle-aged singer-songwriter who is not very well-known however is the creator of no less than 30 albums and EPs. Every has a brand new album. Dacus’ is known as “Ceaselessly Is A Feeling,” and Lewis’ is titled “The Even Extra Freewheelin’ Jeffrey Lewis.” Our rock critic Ken Tucker says that between the 2 of them, they show the broad musical and emotional vary of confessional songwriting.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “MODIGLIANI”)
LUCY DACUS: (Singing) Loving father, good friend and son. Print it backwards on my shoulder blade from leaning again on a plaque on a bench. I carry David’s identify till it fades. Why does it really feel important? Why do I’ve to inform you about it?
KEN TUCKER, BYLINE: Why does it really feel important? Why do I’ve to inform you about it? In two quick sentences, Lucy Dacus summarizes a long time of motivation behind singer-songwriter pop music. It is that combination of confession and melody that creates an phantasm of intimacy, the sensation that we actually know the artist. Certainly, feeling is what Dacus’ new album is all about. It couldn’t be extra feely. It is referred to as “Ceaselessly Is A Feeling,” and I am completely satisfied to say that her basic temper is romantic and optimistic. On the track “Greatest Guess,” she sings her affection to a detailed good friend who’s turn into a lover.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “BEST GUESS”)
DACUS: (Singing) In any case, it is a small world. You will not be an angel, however you’re my woman. You might be my pack a day. You might be my favourite place. You have been my finest good friend earlier than you have been my finest guess on the future. You might be my finest guess. If I have been a playing man, and I’m, you would be my finest guess. You might be my finest guess.
TUCKER: Dacus’ small, intimate voice is tailored to be heard whispering within the ears of followers glued to the small screens of their telephones. Even her proclamations of ardour are refined and modest. A track referred to as “Ankles” reaches again to a time when a girl displaying a little bit of her ankle was thought of daringly erotic. Dacus takes pleasure in transporting this sense to a recent context.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “ANKLES”)
DACUS: (Singing) Agent of chaos, angel of loss of life, considered one of three historic fates taking part in together with your scissors once more. How fortunate are we to have a lot to lose? Now do not transfer after I inform you what to do. Pull me by the ankles to the sting of the mattress and take me such as you do in your goals. I am not going to cease you. I am not going to cease you this time, child. I need you to point out me what you imply, then assist me with the crossword within the morning. You will make me tea, going to ask me how did I sleep.
TUCKER: Lucy Dacus and Jeffrey Lewis each compose acoustic-based singer-songwriter music by which the first-person singular is deployed to announce feelings and opinions, however they may not be extra completely different. For 20 years now, Lewis has been eloquent, crass, romantic and reasonable, continuously all in the identical track. When he writes a confessional lyric, he exposes greater than a well-turned ankle, not bothering with clever metaphors.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “JUST FUN”)
JEFFREY LEWIS: (Singing) Attempt to see your mother and father extra ‘trigger they’re so weak and outdated now. However they only cannot allow you to reside with out all the time being advised how. And spend time together with your baby. Be accountable and silent. However you lose it, then you already know that you are a monster and a tyrant. It is household, so that you name since you’re too grown as much as fume. However one way or the other you have hung up and thrown the telephone throughout the room. ‘Trigger you are a weakling and a loser. You simply by no means get it proper, down from the way in which that you simply have been raised to how your individual house is tonight. These are those you’re keen on the perfect, so why’s it all the time such a multitude? And what the hell’s it for because you’re rotten to the core? Effectively, it is enjoyable. It is simply enjoyable.
TUCKER: Lewis’ new album is known as “The Even Extra Free Wheelin’ Jeffrey Lewis,” the title and canopy photograph a nod to Bob Dylan’s early New York Metropolis folky days. A devoted New Yorker himself, Lewis will get louder and extra low down on this album’s centerpiece, an excellent track about simply how painful day by day existence could be referred to as “Generally Life Hits You.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “SOMETIMES LIFE HITS YOU”)
LEWIS: (Singing) Might need a pleasant life with espresso and buddies you possibly can name. May have a Shakespeare assortment and may need learn all of them. May have household that made you nicer than some people had. May have a household that you simply made. That is not so unhealthy. Effectively, you possibly can construct up your armor in opposition to what life brings. You’ll be able to dodge when life kicks, and you may duck when life swings. You’ll be able to outsmart all disappointment and outfight with finest. However typically life hits you want a chisel to the chest. You then say, ow, that harm. Ow, that harm. Ow, that harm. There will be one thing someday…
TUCKER: That is the musical equal of hitting your thumb with a hammer. And on the much less radio-friendly model of that track, Lewis inserts a pungent four-letter curse between the phrases ow and that harm. Lucy Dacus makes clear that she, too, has skilled moments when, in Jeffrey Lewis’ phrase, life hits you want a chisel to the chest.
Each of those artists have their flaws. Lewis is usually too yammeringly self-absorbed. Dacus is usually an excessive amount of of a monotone mumbler. Every can flatten music that should sound extra ethereal and buoyant. However their finest songs reply Dacus’ query that started this evaluate – why do I’ve to inform you about it? For each Dacus and Lewis, the reply is as a result of it feels good to unburden your self and possibly raise a burden or affirm a sense to your listeners, as nicely.
MOSLEY: Ken Tucker reviewed new music from Lucy Dacus and Jeffrey Lewis.
Tomorrow on FRESH AIR, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is in pressure, and college students are within the crosshairs at school campuses nationwide, from Columbia to the College of Alabama. Authorized scholar Daniel Kanstroom joins us to unpack the regulation, the historical past and the human value. I hope you possibly can be a part of us.
To maintain up with what’s on the present and get highlights of our interviews, comply with us on Instagram – @nprfreshair. FRESH AIR’s govt producer is Danny Miller. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham. Our managing producer is Sam Briger. Our interviews and critiques are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Ann Marie Baldonado, Lauren Krenzel, Therese Madden, Monique Nazareth, Thea Chaloner, Susan Nyakundi and Anna Bauman. Our digital media producer is Molly Seavy-Nesper. Roberta Shorrock directs the present. With Terry Gross, I am Tonya Mosley.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “SOMETIMES LIFE HITS YOU”)
LEWIS: (Singing) Ah, you assume anybody who ever lived obtained via and loved it? Oh, however one way or the other you – yeah, proper – you are going to keep away from it? Effectively you possibly can file dwelling insurance coverage in opposition to fireplace and theft. And you’ll zig to the fitting, and you may zag to the left. No unhealthy well being, unhealthy breakups, or unhealthy love or loss of life, however life will hit you sometime one way or the other like a chainsaw to the chest, and you will say…
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