Boygenius - "The Record"
Bland album name, but all the feels within
Boygenius is a supergroup composed of Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus. Each has found their own measure of success over the last decade; Bridgers is one of the various opening acts for Taylor Swift’s current tour, for crying out loud. But fate brought the three of them together and they became genuinely close friends and decided to collaborate on a single song in 2018 for an event they were all on the ticket for, but they created a whole EP instead.
I normally diss Pitchfork every chance I get, but their review contains more details on how the group got together and an incredible video interview with all three women stating opinions on various topics, which only serves to illustrate the amazing chemistry between them.
This album really ranges all over the indie rock and folk vibes with poppy fringes here and there. There’s a lot of variety on the album. Five tracks really stand out for me, though: “Emily I’m Sorry”, “True Blue”, “Not Strong Enough”, “Satanist”, and “Anti-Curse”. The slower or folkier tracks, like “Revolution 0” or “We’re In Love”, are also good, but these don’t feel like they play to the strengths of the whole group. Opener “Without You Without Them” feels like an antique choir piece, and while it’s not without its charms, it doesn’t feel representative of the album that follows and is less than a minute and a half long. “Leonard Cohen” likewise feels detached from the rest of the album, despite falling right in the middle, just about.
Lyrically, the album is excellent. With these three artists working collaboratively, I would really expect no less. And I feel this is best exemplified with the closing track, “Letter To An Old Poet”, which feels like the most *complete* of the slowcore, ‘sad-girl’ tracks on the album, as the speaker laments the death of a relationship which was ultimately toxic. It’s just beautifully composed in every facet.
This is one that I’ve been waiting on for a couple of years after discovering that the three of them had this project together. Several tracks were worth waiting on, but I’m not sure if the album, as a whole, is worth an 8+, so I’m putting it in the Teal bucket for now.
Rating: Teal Blue