Lucy Dacus Amps Up Her Dark Murder Fantasy With a Full-Band Version of ‘Thumbs’

Lucy Dacus’ “Thumbs,” easily the most gut-wrenching track on her new album Home Video, has received a full-band rendition.

Whereas the studio version features solely Dacus’ buttery, haunting vocals — reminiscent of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska — the full-band version embraces the electric guitar and drums. The song recalls an evening in 2014, when Dacus was in college and went to visit her friend’s estranged father and fantasized about murdering him.

Dacus told Rolling Stone that she was also “dealing with some complicated issues” with her birth father at the time of writing the track. “It ends with those lines, ‘You don’t owe him shit/Even if he said you did,’” she said. “That’s me speaking to her, but I needed to hear that for myself.”

Dacus recently wrapped up a fall tour in support of Home Video, which will resume in early 2022 in North America and overseas. On Nov. 19, she’ll reunite with her Boygenius bandmates for their first show in three years, where they’re scheduled to play a benefit show in San Francisco.