For me a great storyteller is someone who can capture my imagination and transport me to another world. That doesn't have to be a fantastical world, either, but with a good storyteller I find myself in the story, completely engrossed in the tale they are weaving for me. This comes in a wide variety of forms, from Tolkien transporting me to a place with its own history and language, to Becky Chambers helping me imagine a future of aliens, intrigue, and empathy, or my brother telling a good story about the weirdos at work.
What I find most impressive about Dacus's storytelling, though, is her ability to capture me so quickly and completely. In a few hundred words I find myself enthralled with her stories of love, or longing, or heartbreak. Let's walk through one of my favorites (I tried to include the lyrics, but the formatting is bad so listen below and use the link above for the lyrics on YouTube)
The opening imagery of a friend falling asleep on your shoulder is solid, but for me it's the way it quickly expands to the back of the boyfriend's car into the journey home from a sermon that brings me into the moment. Suddenly these three people are real and in focus for me in a way that, maybe only a youth group kid will connect to so completely, gives me chills. Even before we go farther I'm already remembering bittersweet moments as a teenager, caught up in my own head about the people around me, and my feelings for them.
As the song builds from this quiet moment, the world Dacus has created grows further, first into the compromises the friend is making, and then to the longing our singer has for her. Even the fictitious moment of a shoe being thrown to object to a wedding feels real and present. Finally, the song ends on a lovely, bittersweet moment and you realize there was no chorus, no repetition. Just a story of longing during a confusing time of life for all of us. It's wonderful, and I love it. Dacus is so good at this, that whenever this song comes on I find myself stopping whatever I'm doing just to have a good listen, every time.
Christine isn't the only example of this, either. For more, check out Triple Dog Dare, Brando, or Leonard Cohen (this feels like a Dacus, and she's the lead singer, but because it's a boygenius track it's not explicitly noted if she wrote the lyrics). I didn't write much about her music here, and not because it doesn't play a part of how effective and emotive her storytelling is, but because I'm bad about writing about music.
If you have artists that move you like this, I'd love to hear about them over on Mastodon.
Original Publication
April 9, 2024
Digital edition
April 9, 2024
368 pages