\n<\/p>\n
In the music video<\/a> for \u201cAnkles,\u201d the first single from Lucy Dacus\u2019s fourth studio album, the singer plays a pleasure-seeking Victorian-era damsel that has escaped from a painting to gallivant around Paris. Her foil is a stern museum guard trying to corral her back into her frame.<\/p>\n Dacus came up with the idea as a way to reflect the push and pull between curiosity and restraint in the song. Also, she said, \u201cThe song is pretty horny, so it\u2019s not like I was going to recreate what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n For Dacus, frames have become a recurring motif. She used one in a video<\/a> for a song from her second album, \u201cHistorian,\u201d when she was a rising indie singer-songwriter. And she poses in one on the album cover for her latest LP, \u201cForever Is a Feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFraming is such a huge part of art,\u201d Dacus said. \u201cWhat are you putting in the confines of the frame? What are you filling in time? What are you putting in front of people?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The shape of \u201cForever Is a Feeling\u201d emerged when Dacus realized she was writing songs about love. (Then she wrote more of them.) It\u2019s her first solo album since boygenius<\/a> \u2014 the indie-rock supergroup she formed<\/a> with Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker \u2014 grew to an arena-size, Grammy-winning band. (Dacus recently revealed<\/a> that Baker is the subject of one of those love songs.)<\/p>\n In a phone interview before flying to Paris to perform, Dacus shared the cultural essentials that help fill her life. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.<\/p>\n I wear sunscreen every day. I started doing this maybe a year ago, after I moved to Los Angeles. Whenever people visit my house, I have sunscreen for everybody.<\/p>\n Last year, me and my girlfriend were choosing directors and watching two or three of their movies to feel like we got a sense of their style. My high school film teacher showed \u201cNashville,\u201d and it\u2019s so dark and it\u2019s so funny but it\u2019s also so bright. People are talking over each other, the dialogue is more textural.<\/p>\n I would be really lost in terms of songwriting if I didn\u2019t have voice memo and notes apps right next to each other. When I\u2019m busy and out and about, I\u2019ll record a quick voice memo to get the melody and the lyrics together, but if I can\u2019t make noise, I\u2019ll go into my notes app. The very last moment of the whole record is a voice memo of me playing through \u201cLost Time\u201d for the first time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n I have seen 43 seasons. Going from Season 1 and watching the evolution through time is just a unique experience. You see how television changes, you see how society changes. Even how people approach cameras. In the beginning, no one had social media; no one was going to be an online influencer. Not only is the show entertaining, but it feels like a history lesson.<\/p>\n I have two herniated discs. Through the years, I had to cancel tours and trips, and I was bedridden for six weeks at one point. I threw out my back the day before a tour one time and I did a couch tour<\/a>. Because that was so public, people came out of the woodwork telling me to get this book<\/a>. I swear to you: I have not had a flare-up since reading it.<\/p>\n There are LePen pen packs that are color coded and when I journal, I go in color order. Or I\u2019ll skip around. If I\u2019m really angry, I\u2019ll use a red pen. I\u2019ll have the colors match the tone of how I\u2019m feeling.<\/p>\n God bless SZA. She\u2019s just one of the best songwriters working. I\u2019ve been in since \u201cCtrl.\u201d I equate her to Elliott Smith in that everyone who loves Elliott Smith thinks they have a one-on-one relationship to his music. Everyone that loves SZA that I know is like, \u201cSZA gets me.\u201d<\/p>\n In competition as my favorite film of all time. I know that\u2019s kind of like a \u201cfilm school bro\u201d thing to say. But there is really nothing wrong with it. The neon-soaked, contemplative, character-driven movies \u2014 they are 100 percent indebted to it and yet no one has surpassed the sensitivity, complexity, the nuance and oddness of \u201cParis, Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n Everyone should read \u201cThe Fire Next Time\u201d \u2014 it should be required in schools. I had an era of just reading his books chronologically and then I was like, I need to stop because I think I\u2019ll feel so heartbroken when I\u2019m done with his work.<\/p>\n Julien got me a Contax T2 for my birthday. Sometimes if I guest on people\u2019s shows, I\u2019ll take a picture of them and the crowd, because who else is getting them from that perspective? I took it to the Joni Mitchell show and I have a picture of her and Elton John singing together backstage.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nSunscreen<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
Robert Altman Movies<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
iPhone Voice Memos<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
\u2018Survivor\u2019<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
\u2018Healing Back Pain\u2019<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
LePen Pens<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
SZA<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
\u2018Paris, Texas\u2019<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
James Baldwin<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
My Film Camera<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n