Advancing the love lost and romantic angles heard in the string-laden, slacker-rock-like appeal of the times is no small feat. Lucy Dacus did just as much with boygenius, the Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker-featuring trio, though has much more success with Ankles. The lead single of her upcoming album, Forever is a Feeling, is a welcome blur of dreams and realities. Our innermost desires are moulded by the fixtures of the real world, and in turn it gives Dacus a fascinating new experience for a genre where running the gauntlet of love is an expectation of the story, not the story itself. Specifics are what guide Ankles, and after a few listens to those string-reliant lyrics, Dacus’ lead single comes to life.
A song that starts and ends with those same notes, offering the parallel experience between what we expect and what we get. It is a sweet song, but the nastier side, the venomous edge, is what Dacus spotlights. Ankles is a longing for passion of any type, the intricacies of Dacus’ writing feel lived-in and honest. That is crucial to any song charting the relationship, the experience between two people. It is a fundamental which music on love has forgotten, but Dacus is on hand to lift it back into view. Rightly so. It adds that cooler edge, the sense of everyday fatigue is right there within Ankles, and the dedication to fleshing it out as a lived-in experience is a wonderful accompaniment to the strings and instrumental flair. Ankles is about talking, not touching, about not giving into some primal desire and instead building a relationship which works both ways.
That hope runs through Ankles, but the inevitabilities, the all too easy way of giving in to desire, is heard. Dacus does well to make it an immediate switch, not filled with regret but with the expectations built up by the wider world. Our perception of intimacy has changed thanks to the media, thanks to our understanding and relationship with influencers, with those who consider themselves self-titled experts on subjects which are different from person to person. And yet we fall for it time and again, unless we disconnect entirely. But to disconnect entirely is to fear the loss of a guiding hand, even if the direction is wrong. Ankles gets to grips with those tender moments, the spontaneity which can bring on a wave of new emotions, the ones repressed and waiting for some moment to bring them into view. It is what Dacus manages here, with a nicely themed song with plenty of warm instrumental work.
Ankles is much more than just desire and repressed feelings, it is also a cool and collected song, a mature stance taken on relationships, the fodder of pop music across the globe. To hear some worth come from those broad strokes is always a surprise, and Dacus is a fine guide through it. Ankles feels specific enough to be lived-in, but broad enough to maintain an interest in those who have experienced the situation, but not the scenario. A proven method that, when intentionally strived for, does not quite work. It is when a songwriter lays themselves on the line, has themselves as the protagonist of their work, that the emotionally welcoming specifics are laid bare. That much is heard through Ankles, a welcome start to Dacus’ upcoming Forever is a Feeling album.
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