It's sorta unbelievable that Lucy Dacus dropped her fourth studio album Forever Is A Feeling last March. That does not feel right. Either way, since its release, Dacus has been pretty busy releasing the companion album to Forever Is A Feeling, performing at Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral inauguration, appearing as a Jeopardy answer a couple months ago, and hanging out with Chappell Roan. A week ago, she won some major daughter points after introducing her dad to Bruce Springsteen. Last weekend, as an exclusive for Record Store Day, Dacus released a 7" of a new single "Planting Tomatoes." That single is now available everywhere today, and it's really fucking solid.
I can't remember loving a Lucy Dacus song like this. It's been a while. But the softness of her voice sounds so good against a deep-digging bass and a gritty guitar. There are some funky reverby embellishments. Percussion twitters like anxious butterfly wings.
Lyrically, Dacus tackles the menacing theme of grief and time's passing with poetic prowess: "Picking flowers off the shoulder of the road/ 18-wheelers rushing by a little too close/ Life is just a series of close calls/ One day, one will come to end them all." Later, a line reflects on friend gone too soon: "Now I'm older than you'll ever be/ On a day you will never see/ There is so much that I have not lost/ Someday, I know I will pay the cost."
"Planting Tomatoes" also comes with a cute lyric video, compiled from clips of someone writing out the song's lyrics on those sample pieces of paper where one can try all the pens at a stationary store. It's a simple idea that gets at the heart of the song: Life is full of many colorful possibilities — go out and try them all.
Check it out below.
