This new gift from Dacus, her third album, was built on an interrogation of her coming-of-age years in Richmond, VA. Many songs start the way a memoir might—“In the summer of ’07 I was sure I’d go to heaven, but I was hedging my bets at VBS”—and all of them have the compassion, humor, and honesty of the best autobiographical writing. Most importantly and mysteriously, this album displays Dacus’s ability to use the personal as portal into the universal. “I can’t hide behind generalizations or fiction anymore,” Dacus says, though talking about these songs, she admits, makes her ache.

A1. Hot & Heavy
A2. Christine
A3. First Time
A4. VBS
A5. Cartwheel
A6. Thumbs
B1. Going Going Gone
B2. Partner In Crime
B3. Brando
B4. Please Stay
B5. Triple Dog Dare