2023 is officially the year of Boygenius. Their newest release, a short and sweet EP running just barely over 12 minutes, came out this past October, fittingly on Friday the 13th. This EP is a companion to their first full-length album, The Record, which dropped earlier this year on March 31st. The Rest continues the themes of intimate friendships and queer love that are explored in The Record, as well as expanding upon the relatable topics of depression and the pressures of being a 20-something-year-old.
Boygenius, if you have somehow missed it, is a folk-pop supergroup made up of indie singers Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus, and Phoebe Bridgers. All three have made successful careers for themselves in the solo world, and in the ways of Crosby, Stills, and Nash, they linked up to create something incredible. Though their first EP debuted in 2018 under a self-titled name, The Record was their first full-length album to hit the airwaves. The group released three singles in early January; “Emily I’m Sorry”, “$20”, and “True Blue.” Shortly after, a fourth single titled “Not Strong Enough" was released, with the full album’s official release at the end of the month. Personally, I will be very (very!!!) shocked if “Not Strong Enough” does not top my Spotify Wrapped this year.
The Record is a mix of melancholy lovesickness, celebrating female friendships, and the importance of forming your own family. While songs on this album vary from soft-sung oaths to friends, to promises of arson and the desire to stay alive, the vocal blending and mixed instrumentation across the album helps each song to flow into the other and create a well-rounded sound. The Rest continues with themes presented in earlier releases while introducing new feelings of distance and personal guilt. The members of Boygenius are not shy around difficult topics, and somehow they manage to make misery seem simply beautiful. My favorite song on The Rest is, without a doubt, “Voyager.” Bridgers provides eerie vocals on a beautifully tragic track, and the harmonies by Dacus and Baker make me feel content with my pain.
Each album is unique in its own way, but the two together combine to create something magical, something only Boygenius could truly pull off. There is no time like the present to sit down and check out these two releases, though you may want to keep a box of tissues on standby. Boygenius, you’ve done it again.
