boygenius - the record
Indie Rock – March 31, 2023 – 12 songs, 42 mins
LUNDI
One of the greatest pleasures in life is sharing your passions with those around you. Finding others with similar interests and mindsets can really produce something special. And thus Too Sweet Reviews! … but also this weeks indie rock all star trio boygenius and their debut album aptly titled the record.
The stories! The lyrics! The vocals! The harmonies, by god the harmonies. The record is brilliant, beautiful, and profoundly sad. It is everything you’d expect when you combine the talents and musical personas of Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus. While often suppressed under the same indie girl rock umbrella each of the trio bring their own flare to the collaboration album resulting in a collection of tracks that feels fresh yet vaguely familiar. The trio are in tune with their emotions and produce wide ranging passionate tracks that allow and encourage the listener to become vulnerable throughout. From friendships to significant others to understanding oneself, the record is an insightful look at all the relationships one can experience.
The most notable feature of the record is the perfected creative direction accomplished when bringing these three insanely talented musicians together. It rarely feels like a track is solely focused on one member nor do they ever force the three unnecessarily. This balance is what makes every second of the 12 tracks captivating. They were each given the opportunity to bring their best while also at times being forced out of their comfort zone, and it’s safe to say every decision made hit the mark.
From the opening notes on Without You Without Them it is clear the trio is in this together. The songwriting is a beautiful mix of hard edge by Baker, story telling with Dacus and tongue in cheek humour by Bridgers. But no matter the direction the supremely talented vocals of all are at the forefront. Each has the soft touch, the beautiful backing harmony, and the soaring vocal in their bag and find the perfect time to implement these skills. It’s one of those albums where you can find something substantial in every effort. Damn it sure does feels great when high expectations are met.
To close this glowing review of boygenius I want to take the time to credit each of these truly phenomenal musicians on their own merits. While it was meant with good intentions Rolling Stone labelling the trio a ‘supergroup’, a term popularized in the 60’s for successful solo artists collaborating, has spiralled a little out of control the past months to the point that modern media and all its comment sections made the moniker feel less like three incredibly talented musicians making music together and a lot more like the necessary next step in each female’s career in order to succeed. I love the album, it’s everything I hoped for and more, but this moniker inadvertently downplayed how downright talented they are on their own. Certainly in some respects I think coming together resulted in musical directions they may not have found in their own individual efforts but their individual highs of Home Video (Dacus), Punisher (Bridgers), and Turn Out The Lights (Baker) are easily just as good or better. Boygenius exists because of Phoebe’s, Lucy’s, and Julien’s already exemplary careers, not because they needed to do it to progress to the next level. If anyone needed the other it’s the music industry who needed Boygenius. They are a supergroup in the traditional sense but this isn’t a championship team formed to take over music because they couldn’t make it on their own. This is three friends making excellent music together because they’ve earned the stage to do so. They didn’t need each other to succeed, they just graced us with that beauty and we should all be grateful. But in the end whether it’s together, separate, or a mix of both, music is just better with their talent hanging around and I cannot wait for whatever is next.
Boygenius shine a spotlight on the beauty that exists within sadness and elevate emotional connection with music to profound levels. Dacus, Bridgers, and Baker perfected sad indie rock individually and now they’ve done it together with the record.
Overall Rating: 8.5/10
Favourite Song: Anti-Curse
ROZ
For the second review in this double feature week at Too Sweet Reviews we take a deep dive into the very first studio album by sad-girl supergroup boygenius. A formation that seemingly came together by total accident, the band includes two TSR-acclaimed artists in Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus; where the latter has given me a newfound appreciation for the poetry that comes about when an amazing songwriter spills their soul into their music. While the third member - Julien Baker - is an unknown factor in this equation for me, the company that she keeps has me going into this experience with a profound optimism. This is the record.
As I mentioned in my glowing review of Dacus’s 2021 studio album Home Video, I typically do find myself hyperfocusing on the production side of a record - my background in music production has always created this inherent bias during my review process. That is, however, not the case when the songwriting is really good. Considering how much I found Dacus teleporting me into her stories on Home Video and how hard I felt Phoebe tugging my heartstrings on Punisher, there was a certain expectation that I had going into this - an expectation that was pleasantly met.
A myriad of personal topics are explored throughout the album; everything from love, relationships, breakups, insecurities - the list goes on. I find myself having to take breaks between sessions so as to not ruin whatever good mood I am in at the time. In other instances however, I found myself letting it wash over me like the water from a cold spring - and damn is it refreshing. Sometimes it’s nice to be sad.
In saying this, the album is far from an acapella (save for the old time-y, barbershop-like harmonization going on during Without You Without Them at the beginning). The tried and true, classic indie rock instrumentation is laid out in such a way so as to not take focus off of the substance within the words. Cool About It seemed to manifest the legendary sound of Paul Simon, a beautiful and delicate mixture of emotion and acoustic guitar; easily my favourite song from the track listing.
Sonically, another standout moment came about during Anti-Curse, an absolutely fantastic song - my second favourite on the album in fact. The percussiveness of the kick drum really adds that extra level to the vocal performance above it. Speaking of which, do you know what else is really great on this track? It’a not a what, it’s a who - Julien fucking Baker, the unknown factor that I brought up in the beginning of this review. She leaves no room for doubt in my mind throughout every performance she gives on the record and has found a new fan in me.
This is by far the saddest album that I have reviewed since we started our journey here at Too Sweet Reviews; use this information wisely and pick your listening location accordingly. Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker fit together like pieces in a puzzle and the indie rock scene is all the better for it.
Overall Rating: 8.4/10
Favourite Song: Cool About It
REID
Wikipedia defines supergroup as a musical group whose members are successful as solo artists or as members of other successful groups. The most recent examples are rock bands like Audioslave, Them Crooked Vultures and Velvet Revolver. Rolling back the clock further you get Crosby, Stills & Nash, The Travelling Wilburys and Temple of the Dog. Major hype surrounded these partnerships from the outset and their levels of success varied.
This week’s review comes from a trio of women in their respective primes. Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker boast a comparable soft rock style. The talk of similarities began and attempts to pit them against one another as competitors didn’t sit well. Instead, they flipped the script and joined forces, proving there’s room for all three and more women vying for success in the genre. They released a self-titled EP in 2018 to critical acclaim and fans have clamored for more. Their first full album is called the record.
Last week, Phoebe Bridgers presented Taylor Swift with the iHeartRadio Music Innovator Award given to artists for their contribution to pop culture. Check out the short video. (She’s adorable).
‘When I was little, I wanted to be a songwriter. I had lots of big feels, and I wanted to write songs about them. But songs were written by adults about their very adult lives. So when I started writing, I just made stuff up. And the songs sucked. I knew that, and I fantasized about the day far in the future when I’d finally have something to say – when I lived a life worth writing a song about…Gradually, my songs started to suck less because instead of trying to sound interesting, I just started telling the truth.’
You’re damn right the songs suck less. Phoebe, Lucy and Julien write poetry and tell stories with their music. The words are heartbreakingly beautiful on their own but the songs are taken to a whole other level with breathtaking vocal harmonies. They share the spotlight throughout, truly making it feel like a fruitful collaboration, boosting their resumes evenly. The music is simple but effective, orchestrated appropriately to support each tale. The mood is of overwhelming sadness but the record is pieced together so the more upbeat songs space out those that crawl along.
the record isn’t without some constructive criticism. True Blue is the perfect example to illustrate frustration with this style of music. Lyrically the song is excellent. Lucy’s songwriting is incredibly clever. Lines like ‘You say you’re a winter bitch but summer’s in your blood’ and ‘When you don’t know who you are, you fuck around and find out’ are amongst my favourites on the album. But there’s a disconnect emotionally. She writes this beautiful love song and sings it like she’s on the way to work in the car on a cloudy Tuesday morning. I just want to hear her go for it and let it all out. I understand and respect artists do things differently but that’s what it’d take to get to the level in my eyes.
Despite relatively short careers, the boygenius trio already meet the defining criteria of a supergroup even if they share little in common with those before them. They’ve damn near mastered the art of songwriting and melancholy mood setting and continue to raise the bar on the record. When all is said and done, their most inspirational qualities may be leading by example as role models of unity and acceptance.
Overall Rating: 8.0/10
Favourite Song: Not Strong Enough