Lucy Dacus Revisits Teenage Romance at Bible Camp in ‘VBS’

Lucy Dacus takes us back to the summer of 2007 in “VBS,” the latest single off her upcoming album Home Video.

The track kicks off with a steady drumbeat, as Dacus recalls her teenage romance at Bible camp: “Back in the cabin/Snorting nutmeg in your bunk bed/You were waiting for a revelation of your own.” It’s paired with an animated video by Marin Leong, featuring Dacus traveling through a dreamy landscape.

“VBS means vacation Bible school, and I went to tons of them,” Dacus said in a statement. “It’s where Christian parents send their kids over the winter, spring, or summer breaks from school to get closer to God, maybe learn some outdoor skills, and bring home useless crafts and totems like fruit of the spirit sand art and purity rings.”

“I wrote the song in the van on the way to Nashville to record Home Video after seeing one of those readerboards outside a church advertising a wholesome church camp for kids,” she added. “I thought about my first boyfriend, who I met at VBS, the resident bad boy who loved Slayer and weed more than Jesus. I took it upon myself to save him, and make him stop doing drugs (with an exception for snorting nutmeg). God, I was so lame.”

“VBS” follows “Hot and Heavy” and “Thumbs.” “I’ve always valued honesty, but a lot of these are just note-for-note things that happened in my life,” she recently told Rolling Stone of Home Video, out June 25th.

Dacus will embark on a tour this fall in support of the record, kicking off in her hometown of Richmond, Virginia, on September 10th. It wraps in Brooklyn, New York on October 26th.