Lucy Dacus – 2019 Vinyl (Black EP)

Recorded in here-and-there studio spurts over the last two years, '2019', is made made up of originals and cover songs tied to specific holidays, each were released around their respective date: Valentine's Day, Mother's Day (and Taurus season!), Independence Day, Springsteen's Birthday (not an official holiday, though we're told Chris Christie often took that day off), Halloween, Christmas, and New Year's.

Dacus uses her gift as a songwriter to help understand and cope with the world around her, including making sense of national holidays, often more geared towards social media boasts and manufactured consumerism than authentic celebration. "What is going on," she asks herself on these days, retreating from the heightened expectations of holidays to figure out what to make of them and to find her own meaning. "I've collected some songs from try- ing to answer that question," she says, and "this EP seems like the right place to put them next to each other. These songs are self-contained, not indicative of a new direction, just a willing-ness to do something different and sometimes even out of character."

Tracklist

1. Fool's Gold
2. La Vie en Rose
3. My Mother & I
4. Forever Half Mast
5. Dancing in the Dark
6. In the Air Tonight
7. Last Christmas