This month, Lucy Dacus’ brilliant sophomore record with Matador Records turns five years old. And to celebrate, the Richmond-turned-Philadelphia artist gave the album’s opener, the show-stopping “Night Shift,” new life in the form of a music video directed by Jane Schoenbrun (writer/director of We’re All Going to the World’s Fair). Starring Jasmin Savoy Brown and featuring other barely-recognizable cameos by fellow contemporary indie artists such as Phoebe Bridgers and Frances Quinlan, “Night Shift” the video flips the heart-breaking narrative from the 2018 song about infidelity and rage into a heart-fluttering visual of queer joy.
It’s hard to imagine a song by Dacus more well-loved than “Night Shift,” as it served as Dacus’ go-to live set closer for years. Fans may double-take at the news of a music video, unsure there wasn’t already one in existence. But the making of the video is perfect timing, really. “In five years I hope the songs feel like covers / dedicated to new lovers” sings Dacus in “Night Shift.” In Schoenbrun’s film grainy vision of the song, Dacus’ once unrequited love song is now happily reciprocated.
Along with “Night Shift,” Lucy Dacus is reissuing Historian on limited edition red vinyl with her original album artwork. You can pre-order the album here. And watch “Night Shift” below. Lucy Dacus will be on tour with boygenius starting this April with two dates at Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California. Boygenius’ closest announced Philadelphia date is June 17th at Forest Hills Stadium in New York City.