Everyone from NPR to Rolling Stone to Pitchfork is singing the praises of boygenius. After just one listen, it’s easy to see why. Boygenius consists of Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus. Each a formidable solo act in their own right, these three powerhouse songwriters have joined forces to indie-rock your socks off. There are reasons why everyone is talking about this album right now. It is pure magic–certainly one of the best albums of the year.
Boygenius packs a huge gut punch right out of the gates. The first song “Bite the Hand” starts with Lucy Dacus’ velvety alto accompanied by electric guitar. She sings, “I can’t hear you/You’re too far away/I can’t see you/The light is in my face/I can’t touch you/I wouldn’t if I could.” Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker then chime in and all three chant the refrain, “I can’t love you how you want me to.” The close-yet-far relationship described here undoubtedly touches on the dynamic musicians have with their fans. Constantly facing the expectations of so many faceless admirers is something all three artists can surely relate to. It is a fact of their lives as career musicians. Dacus later sings, “Maybe I’m afraid of you,” elaborating how being the subject of so much fandom at once can be overwhelming to the point of being scary.
For its first few bars, “Me & My Dog” sounds like a chance to catch one’s breath from the emotional weight and sway to a song about spending all night kissing someone. But after the first verse Bridgers sings about mixed emotions, wanting to “be emaciated,” and continually insisting her feelings don’t matter. Your feelings do matter, Phoebe Bridgers!
“Souvenir” and “Stay Down” don’t offer much comfort either, as all three vocalists sing about nightmares and cemeteries, hospitals and surgeries, alienation and depression (these songs are beautiful, but they are not happy).
Some of my favorite musical moments in this album happen on “Salt in the Wound” with its fuzzy and slow-churning transitions of heavily distorted guitar chords. Baker, Bridgers, and Dacus harmonize beautifully together. The song slowly builds until Bridgers and Dacus are belting huge climactic harmonies while Baker shreds a guitar solo.
After listening to this album front to back, I want to hear more. This feeling was amplified by how the slow folk waltz of “Ketchum, ID” abruptly ends. The song is a lament the three songwriters wrote together about spending the majority of one’s adult years (Baker, Bridges, and Dacus are all under the age of 25) on the road touring; a constant state of impermanence. They sing, “I am never anywhere/Anywhere I go/When I’m home I’m never there/Long enough to know.” Paradoxes can be harsh, man.
Baker, Bridgers, and Dacus have often been pigeonholed into the same category of “female singers,” showing up on all the same playlists and stations. But as Dacus pointed out in an interview (link to https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/boygenius-boygenius-ep/), there is so much more to each of these artists than the fact that they are all women. To reduce the three of them to this common denominator is about as lazy and banal as observations come. Interestingly though, nothing reaffirms the unique qualities of each musician like putting them together in this band. Their strengths shine through both individually and as a collective. Lyrically, emotionally, and even in vocal range, Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus fit together without seams. No one is upstaged. They concede space for each other, taking turns as frontwomen of each song. No competition. Just unity.
When asked why they chose the name boygenius for their band, they suggested it was a way of giving themselves permission to have the kind of confidence in their own abilities talented young men are taught to have in theirs. Bridgers said, “Men are taught to be entitled to space and that their ideas should be heard because they’re great ideas and women are taught the opposite. That they should listen instead of speak and all that stuff.” In naming their band boygenius, these women critique the male-dominated music industry while claiming their territory within it. And boy has their flag been planted.
In short, this album is breathtaking in the best ways. It’s the chocolate and peanut butter of the music scene right now, and I can’t get enough of it.
Give it a listen.
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