Lucy Dacus
Historian

The Women's March in January 2017 was the most significant moment in the democratic history of the USA in the last two years. While the political content has yet to be fully explored, the symbolic aspect is evident: more than 500,000 women demonstrated in the capital alone. Another two million participated in the initiative across the country. These are enormous numbers, indicative and meaningful, signifying not just dissent but transcending the principles upon which past protests were based because here, gender equality is claimed, but also, especially for the younger women, an affirmation of one's identity and self-determination as a woman beyond any possible stereotype.

Lucy Dacus, 23 years old, from Richmond, Virginia, is perhaps the most representative musical artist of this new generation. Surpassing classifications like "priestess of rock" or "chanteuse," and those of a songwriter with a refined style and angelic voice, and dark and electronic parodies of mainstream rubbish, this girl manages to simply be herself in a set of decidedly alternative rock songs (ten in total) that are as convincing as they are meaningful in content and where she shows a notable talent in writing and interpretations, which are somehow dynamic and at times even ironic and suggestive, as if wanting to exorcise herself and the contents of her songs.

Her first album ("No Burden," 2016) was a true "casus": released on a small label, it unexpectedly became a great success. Then, the major "indie" labels competed to sign her: Matador Records won and re-released the first LP and produced the second. This apparently hasn't changed Lucy, who hasn't hidden her anxiety in anticipation of the album's release, to which she gave the significant title "Historian" (recorded in Nashville with an influential producer like John Congleton) and where she shows an unexpected maturity for such a young author, where maturity means above all self-awareness and no fear of truly putting oneself out there. Perhaps musically, she doesn't offer anything new overall, but she certainly does it well, and her strength lies precisely in her determination and courage to present herself authentically and without pretense, without hiding a certain shyness, and this is really significant and the reason why, in the end, you'll have to admit that this album practically has no weak points or that if there are any, it's okay because perfection fortunately doesn't exist.