LUCY DACUS Forever Is a Feeling (Geffen) — The most fevered fan fiction couldn’t have landed on a more satisfying epilogue for the magical Year of Boygenius than Lucy Dacus’s fourth full-length as a solo artist. After parlaying the supernova notoriety that came from her time as part of indie’s most charmed trio into a major label deal, Dacus emerged with a polished album that can essentially be heard as forty-three minutes of swooning over her bandmate and new girlfriend Julien Baker. Forever Is a Feeling still rides some of the choppy waves of Dacus’s haunted frustrations and wry, withering social observations, but the predominant vibe is one that could only come from a worldly wise person learning how to be smitten. Following opener “Calliope Prelude,” which is what it says on the tin, “Big Deal” strikes the tone of tender romantic confession. Dacus spends much of the record in the same lovely zone; that she makes like a like a junior Joni Mitchell on “Come Out” is indicative of her new space of comfort. No amount of deviations — the strident strings characterizing the sauciness of “Ankles,” the tangle of distortion on the back lap of “Talk” — can fully set the proceeding askew. The title sweet, celebratory “Forever Is a Feeling” gives the album its title for a reason. Keeping the joyful levels high, Dacus enlists a bevy of buddies to help on the album, including Madison Cunningham, Melina Duterte (a.k.a. Joy Som), Bartees Strange, and both of the other genius boys. Hozier even pops in to duet on “Bullseye.” It’s like everyone’s rooting for the new couple, and joining in the jamboree is the best way to share the love. Don’t fight the feeling and check the following cuts: “Mogdigliani,” “For Keeps,” “Best Guess,” and “Lost Time.”

PERFUME GENIUS Glory (Matador) — This year marks fifteen years of Mike Hadreas releasing albums as Perfume Genius. Glory is a good marker of just how far he’s come. Always a meticulous craftsman, Hadreas made his stage name as a creator whose tracks could be googled up by anyone trying to demonstrate what bedroom pop sounded like. He’s steadily expanded his sound from those fluffy, lo-fi beginnings, and the new album represents a whole other tier of fabulous fulsomeness. Working again with producer Blake Mills, a steady studio partner going back to the masterful No Shape, Hadreas expanded the circle of collaborators to enlist what amounted to more or less a full backing band. When the assembled musicians include no less a ringer than legendary drummer Jim Keltner, business is clearly meant. Perfume Genius proceeds to explore all sort of different facets of himself, like he’s holding up the diamond of how own being and turning it in the light. “It’s a Mirror” ventures into Elliott Smith territory, complete with the lyrics betraying misgivings of selfhood “What do I get out of being established?/ I still run and hide when a man’s at the door,” and “Me & Angel” is a rich and affecting love song. On “Capezio,” Hadreas sings with a falsetto that sounds like it can crack into a thousand pieces if it encounters too stiff a breeze, and he couples those vocals to music that moves its own deliberate hesitancy. He makes space for the spooky, unsettling “Hanging Out” and the casually elegant “No Front Teeth,” the latter highlighting a guest vocal turn by Aldous Harding. There might be more people sharing space in the studio these days, but Hadreas’s command of his creative rudder hasn’t wavered one bit. Bask in these tracks: “Clean Heart,” “Left for Tomorrow,” and “In a Row.”