nina writes

Night Shift is the stellar opening song of Lucy Dacus’ album Historian. Dacus details the aftermath of a relationship and moving on, not wanting to see this ex-lover again. She evokes a feeling of progression from this relationship and her urge to not see this person anymore. 

Dacus made a statement about the song:

This is the only breakup song I’ve ever written. For a long time I didn’t believe expressing this sort of negativity was productive, but it’s less productive to resist the truth of a situation. It’s a hopeful song.

via NPR

In enters a soft guitar to ease us in, as during the first verse she describes trying to move on to other people and being let down. The first time she kisses someone else after this lover, it is not romantic, just tasting “somebody else’s spit”. Her vocals are as soft as the lone guitar, juxtaposing the second act of the record. It’s a calmer production and melody as she tells us her story of moving on. 

As the chorus enters, her voice lifts as she sings about a shift to forgiveness:

I feel no need to forgive, but I might as well

The song gradually picks up here with more firm strums of the guitar and the second verse is introduced with percussion and more guitar melodies. The chords repeat in different variations but are just as effective each time, and the drums slowly build. Dacus heartbreakingly tells her ex-lover to forget they ever saw her at her best.

She sings out in this verse:

Don’t hold your breath, forget you ever saw me at my best / You don’t deserve what you don’t respect / Don’t deserve what you say you love and then neglect

Dacus cries out in this verse, her desperation to make this person hear her is clear. We fall back into the chorus a second time with the drums beating on. The instruments take us into the second half of the song, which contrasts the first half. We settle into a transition that brings us to the culminating refrain. It slows us down into just the guitar for a moment as she sings:

You’ve got a 9-5 so I’ll take the night shift / And I’ll never see you again if I can help it / In five years I hope the songs feel like covers / Dedicated to new lovers

This moment builds as she repeats the lines over again softly, until a big instant where the drums kick back in with a fuzzy guitar. The song hits a climax where Dacus repeats the same few lines, effectively and heartbreakingly.

Listen here: