“I’ve always had problems making decisions,” singer-songwriter Alaina Stacey says with a laugh. “Who knows?” As it turns out, Stacey’s new EP, DUSK, finds the Chicago-raised artist exploring uncertainty throughout its myriad of embodiments: regret, joy, or the paralysis of choice itself. As the final installment of Stacey’s ambitious three-EP series, preceded by 2023’s DAWN and 2024’s DAY, the latest collection is filled with the sun-down mood not fit for the previous two releases. “These are songs that I’ve written over the last decade,” she explains. “They don’t all make sense on the same album. Instead, I like to imagine them reflecting different sonic and emotional moments in my life.”
Uncertainty also finds its way into the musical choices in DUSK, along with the exploration of new musical genres. While a couple of the songs on DUSK are grounded in Stacey’s Americana and Country music roots, others point in different directions. “Revolve,” produced by Chicago’s own Brian Deck (Modest Mouse, Iron and Wine, Counting Crows), and “Drunken Lullaby” suggest a more indie sound. With “Late Night Lies,” Stacey unabashedly falls into the throwback, whimsical pop crooning style of a Burt Bacharach song. Somehow, they all seem to make sense as the sun sets and evening concerns begin to manifest.
Today, Stacey released the first single from DUSK, the melancholic reminiscence of an ex in “Think of You.” “There’s a constant ache you feel when you walk around the city where you live, and everything reminds you of the one you loved and lost,” she recalls of how the song began. “I wrote this one after a particularly difficult breakup, when every Nashville staple and local corner seemed to wear his face.” Lilting pop piano leads the long-time performer into an intimate first verse: “That scratch on my bumper from your mailbox / Dylan autobiography, the diner on Church Street.” “We had a funny, ongoing argument about who was better, Tom Waits or Bob Dylan,” she says. “I argued for Waits, my ex for Dylan. Even now I can’t hear a Dylan song without thinking of him.”
“You keep showing up and there’s nothing I can do
Every time I hear ‘Tangled Up in Blue’
I think of you”
Fans can stream or purchase “Think of You” today at this link and pre-order or pre-save DUSK ahead of its July 18th release right here. Stacey will be playing a very special hometown show at Philadelphia’s Lounge at World Cafe Live on May 23rd. Tickets are available right here. For more information or to check out DAWN and DAY ahead of this new release, please visit alainastacey.com.
