American singer-songwriter Lucy Dacus has released a new track, the latest in her series of holiday-themed singles. In the past, she’s released a Mother’s Day song entitled ‘My Mother And I’ and covered Edith Piaf’s ‘La Vie en Rose’ for Valentine’s Day.
This time around, Dacus has released a track about “American cognitive dissonance” called ‘Forever Half Mast’ for the Fourth of July. As you might have guessed, the song explores what it’s like experiencing the complicated emotions that come with being an American citizen.
“There is a daily dissonance one endures as an American wherein much of our joy is counterweighted by shame, where much of our pride lives in tandem with injustice and suffering,” says Dacus in a statement. “‘Forever Half Mast’ is about confronting this unavoidable culpability as an American citizen and consumer. Instead of allowing this guilt to paralyze us, we should try to let it influence us in positive ways.”
It’s a pretty impactful song, with Dacus’ typically poignant lyrics contrasting with some beautiful pedal steel guitar.
Listen to ‘Forever Half Mast’ below. Dacus released her second album Historian last year, and has been busy this year with boygenius, the band she formed with Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker.
There are more holiday-themed songs on the way, with Taurus season, Halloween, Christmas, New Year’s and – most important of all – Bruce Springsteen’s birthday all expected to have commemorative tracks from Dacus.
