When Boygenius pressed pause last February, it felt more like a victory lap than a farewell. The supergroup—Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus—announced their indefinite hiatus just before their debut album The Record scooped up three Grammys. The timing was poetic: an exclamation point at the end of a project that never shied away from big statements, be they musical, political, or meme-ready. From drag protests in Tennessee to onstage kisses and rock history cosplay, Boygenius made a spectacle of shaking up rock’s boys’ club.

But with Forever Is a Feeling, Dacus emerges solo once more, and she’s clearly not chasing spectacle. Her return is subtle, even hushed. For an album that includes Hozier and a harp, it’s surprisingly minimal in spirit. Co-produced with Blake Mills, the sound is restrained—bathed in warmth and a kind of cozy melancholy. Acoustic guitars gently weave through soft piano lines and gauzy textures; the shoegaze shimmer of “Talk” floats past like a dream, while “Big Deal” whispers so quietly you almost miss it. Even when distortion does appear—on “Most Wanted Man” or the closing swell of “Lost Time”—it’s more of a suggestion than a statement.

At first pass, this might register as music designed to disappear into the background, playlist-ready for coffee shop corners and lazy Sunday mornings. But that would be underselling Dacus’s intent. This is intimate music, deliberately low-key. The record’s emotional engine is a portrait of a relationship—specifically, a romance with Boygenius bandmate Julien Baker—captured in flashes of vulnerability, devotion, and doubt. Her lyrics are quiet knockouts, full of sharp observations and dry wit. “Meeting your family was a trip, seeing what you got from them,” she sings on “Modigliani,” with a shrug that lands like a gut punch. Elsewhere, she’s fatalistic yet tender: “You are my best guess at the future,” she confesses.

Dacus has always had a poet’s eye, and Forever Is a Feeling reinforces just how good she is at finding the big emotions in small moments. The only drawback is that her songwriting strength sometimes leans too heavily on words. Melodically, the album doesn’t always hit the same highs. The standout “Limerence” borrows from show tune stylings and gives her voice room to stretch—and in doing so, reminds you what the rest of the album is missing. Elsewhere, the melodies are content to drift, pretty but forgettable. Still, this isn’t an album that needs to shout. It’s about intimacy, not impact. And in that sense, Forever Is a Feeling is exactly what it says it is—something gentle, enduring, and deeply felt.