Unless you have been living under a rock, I am sure you have heard of indie rock supergroup boygenius. If you happen to have been spending time in your Patrick-like dwelling please allow me to introduce you to this showstopping musical trio.
Consisting of the powerhouse voices of Lucy Dacus, Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker, this trio has captured something truly beautiful.
They released their debut self-titled EP in 2018 and after a five-year break, they blessed us with their first album, “the record.”
After consuming and overconsuming the record, I was elated to hear of the supergroup’s EP “the rest,” which was released on Oct. 13.
This EP comes at a time when all of us melancholic music listeners are defrosting our favored fall playlists.
“The rest” is absolutely perfect for anyone who loves to layer on chunky sweaters and curl up with an oat milk latte.
The rest consists of four uniquely special new tunes.
The EP opens with “Black Hole.” The first verse is solely sung by Baker who instantly captures your attention. One thing I particularly enjoy about this song is the way the entire second verse of the song is sung in one-to-two-word lines.
To me, this song conveys the feeling of being left behind. These short lines truly convey the world-stopping effect of someone you love leaving.
Along with that, the somewhat repetitiveness of the lines expertly shows the feeling of repeating thoughts during heartache or crisis.
After “Black Hole,” the EP’s only explicit song, “Afraid of Heights” plays.
This song is primarily sung by Dacus, but the angelic harmonies from Bridgers and Baker truly make this song perfect.
This song is full of poetic analogies and hard-hitting, devastating lines. I have found whenever the line “I want to live a vibrant life / But I want to die a boring death” plays, I have to stop in my tracks a little bit.
One thing I love about boygenuis fans is our love is spread across all of their songs fairly evenly.
To be fair, they haven’t made a bad song.
However, the next song on the album “Voyager” seems to be getting a little extra attention.
And rightfully so.
This song is sung mainly by the hauntingly beautiful voice of Bridgers. This song is heartbreaking in all the right ways.
This song feels distinctly Bridgers with the soft guitar and humming from the other bandmates in the background, along with the moon references which are a staple of Bridgers’ identity.
This wonderfully slow song ends with, “You took it from me, but I would’ve given it to you,” and it’s such a mic-drop moment.
The final song on the album, “Powers,” is such a wonderful final song.
The song is primarily sung by Baker, but Bridgers and Dacus’s harmonies are very clear and powerful.
As someone who is a fan of all of The Boys’ solo music, I noticed this EP incorporated one song in each artist’s style. While they are all similar and wonderful, it is very clear who was the main contributor to each song.
This is less the case on “the record” in which they share verses on more songs.
I love the way this band truly doesn’t have a frontman. Each artist gets to incorporate their personal style and collaborate to create a new sound. This is one of the things that sets this trio apart and makes them so incredible.
If you haven’t, do yourself a favor and dive into “the rest” and the rest (pun intended) of boygenius’ discography.
You won’t regret it.
Freeman can be reached at [email protected].
