Lucy Dacus - Historian
Critic Score
Based on 25 reviews
2018 Ratings: #218 / 890
Year End Rank: #40
User Score
Based on 925 ratings
2018 Rank: #73
Liked by 170 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

90
Drowned in Sound

You know you have a classic on your hands when, after the umpteenth spin, you start looking for the tour dates, and try to reason your way to a gig. Like the fabled plane of songs, Historian feels like a universe that exists before time, somewhere to reach up to when you need to express something greater than yourself. And Dacus shows us the way, with grace and patience and the quiet confidence of writers twice her age.

90
The Young Folks
There is so much detailed beauty to be found in this deeply vulnerable record. It’s damn near perfection.
90
Spectrum Culture

This is such a strong follow-up statement that it renders even the slightest hint of the proverbial “sophomore slump” null and void. Historian is one of the first truly great albums of 2018.

90
The Line of Best Fit

As impressive as No Burden was on its own merits, independent of and regardless of its creator’s youth, inexperience, and slapdash conception, Historian is a monolith of American songwriting. Lucy Dacus strikes peerlessly at the core of our emotions at once with wit and gravity, loftiness and plain-spokenness.

90
The 405

Historian is a complete album, cavernous in its emotional depths and regally sophisticated in its songwriting, yet palatably relatable at the point of contact. It’s a work of perfectly realised ambition in which anyone who’s ever waded the swamp of heartache can recognise themselves.

87
Paste

It’s a rare artist who has a voice so compelling, and rarer still are the ones who learn so early on how to use it. At 23, Dacus has already made a career album with Historian, and she’s really only just getting started.

86
GIGsoup
Each track here contains subtle musical inflections that are almost unbelievable in their execution. Only her sophomore LP, 'Historian', with its myriad, sprawling textures, feels like a seasoned artist's magnum opus -- not a ten-track, forty-seven minute gem whose emotional resonance flirts with the sublime.
85
Under the Radar
The naked crystallized truths she unearths in each song prod the soul intrusively, often instilling those familiar physical jolts inside your chest when severe heartbreak hits.
81
Pitchfork

As Historian adds new elements to Dacus’ music—strings, horns, vocal effects, and spoken word samples appear here alongside guitars, drums, and bass—it also finds the Virginia songwriter plumbing new thematic depths and broadening her stage.

80
NME
The 10 track ‘Historian’ is far bigger, meatier beast than its predecessor. Recorded in Nashville, this is a rock’n’roll album with deep understanding of pop melody but layered up with bold lyrics which disarm you as much as they connect with you.
80
DIY
Even as Lucy deals with massive topics including death, hope, and major life transitions, she offers listeners entry points back into their own worlds, all while strengthening her already taut grip on rustling, soul-blemished rock.
80
FLOOD Magazine

Where her first album was an exploration, this one is a proclamation.

80
Exclaim!
It's an intricate record, one filled with peaks and valleys, high points and low. It gets a little messy at times, but it finds beauty in it all.
80
Rolling Stone

For all its keen lyricism, Historian ultimately floats on a sea of fuzz, rich with small melodic details and the sort of glorious guitar heroics that indie rock is often much too modest for.

80
Uncut

Historian fulfills all the promises of 2015's No Burden.

80
Mojo

Even the less bristling episodes feel luminous and ecstatic, but mostly the magnificent Historian thrives on tension.

75
A.V. Club

Historian stumbles occasionally, with some songs taking a while to get up the hill, but it’s rewarding because it carries such weight and commands such attention.

75
Northern Transmissions
Though Dacus doesn’t always match expectations or tighten things up, she never fails to create moments worth hearing.
70
AllMusic
Ultimately, the forte passages don't encroach on the songwriting, as they underline emotion, but they do, at times, step on Dacus' voice, when she's clouded by high-volume accompaniment or even vocal processing. Thankfully, those moments are brief and rare, allowing her lyrics and expressive sense of melody to shine.
70
musicOMH
Lucy Dacus has here achieved what she set out to do, marking her place as a brutally honest songwriter who isn’t afraid to go to the darker sides of humanity to find her truth. Her engaging lyrics remain her true strength. But in her quest to perfect this mission statement, the urgent spark present in her debut has dimmed just a little.
60
Dork
It’s a dark but graceful rock album – or perhaps a heavy singer-songwriter one – with songs that are at times intensely, almost uncomfortably personal.
60
Record Collector
These are anthemic, intelligent pop songs, the kind that the Taylor Swifts of this world would hand over their back teeth for.
60
Q Magazine

The only gripe here is that the odd longueur makes Historian solid rather than spectacular.

50
No Ripcord

On its own, Historian is a solid indie rock record: enjoyable, though not particularly memorable. It’s as though Dacus’s best parts have been filtered through a focus group – just imagine what it could have been with the patina scraped off.

Host
80

DONT HURT EM LUCY 🙏🙏🔥🔥🔥

apotofstu
100

Even more exquisite than her first, Lucy Dacus' second studio album, Historian, is a triumphant return for one of rock's most promising and exciting figures out now.

Just like No Burden, Historian is full of exceptionally well-written and personal pieces of songwriting, something that Lucy is capable of creating, all while exuding a sense of humor and wisdom I have yet to see elsewhere in my music-listening endeavors. Everything I loved about her first album is expanded upon even further here: ... read more

ST4T1C
90

Had no idea what to expect from this album, and from what I heard on here, I really loved a lot about this album. I really loved a lot of moments on here, especially the opening track “Night Shift”. Holy shit, that opening track was phenomenal. However, I feel like how in that track right at the beginning kinda makes the other tracks kinda underwhelming in comparison, even if they are still all pretty damn great. Other than that, I did really enjoy this album quite a lot. Its pretty ... read more

thatxoxox
92

sooo i listened to night shift a lot in 2023 so much that it was my top 3 most stream song of the year but never really went into her discography out of that but I had the time now while working on some project and I do not regret. I think the worst song are next of kin that just didn't click with me, and pillar of truth that I find maybe too long for not much. I feel like the song could have been shortened and I would have liked it because the end did get to me but was like all of that for ... read more

Felix_96
70

7/10

good

Fav tracks: Night Shift, Addictions, Nonbeliever, Yours & Mine, Timefighter, Next of Kin, Pillar of Truth

83

lucy dacus the woman that you are

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Track List

1Night Shift
6:31
97
2Addictions
3:24
89
3The Shell
4:37
85
4Nonbeliever
3:40
89
5Yours & Mine
5:14
85
6Body to Flame
3:05
87
7Timefighter
5:48
91
8Next of Kin
4:06
85
9Pillar of Truth
7:14
92
10Historians
3:56
83
Total Length: 47 minutes
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Added on: December 12, 2017