Lucy Dacus Shares ‘Forever Half Mast’ Single

At the start of the year, Lucy Dacus announced her plans to release a series of holiday-themed singles across 2019. Now, following her original “My Mother & I,” which was released in the spring around Mother’s Day, the boygenius singer has debuted “Forever Half Mast” in time for Independence Day.

The track is solidly American, leaning into the idiosyncratic sound of the steel guitar and pairing the twang with sentimental vocals and a laidback rhythm section. Lyrically, the tune is less clear cut, with the singer-songwriter working through her complex feelings toward her home country. Inspired by her time touring Europe, Dacus explores what it means to be a proud American and finds a middle ground that recognizes her own ambivalence. As she croons in the refrain, “Yes, you’re evil / But you’re not that bad. / You put out your palm / More than the back of your hand.”

As Dacus described in a statement:

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. ‘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.

Dacus has plans to release future installments of her 2019 holiday song series to coordinate with Bruce Springsteen’s birthday, Halloween, Christmas, and New Year’s. Listen to the new third installment, “Forever Half Mast,” below: