Indie trio boygenius comes back after a five-year hiatus with their full-length debut album appropriately titled the record. Composed of one-of-a-kind talents Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus, boygenius has previously proved itself to be a force to be reckoned with after their fantastic self-titled EP as all of the member’s success as solo artists.
Kicking off the album, listeners are met with a lively mix of sweet yet raw vocals of “Without You Without Them,” an acapella forwarded by Dacus, with smooth supporting melodies provided by Baker and Bridgers. The sentiment of the first track sets off the right tone, despite its low replay value. The ‘boys,’ as many fans and even the members refer to the supergroup, voice that they would not be themselves if it was not for others in their lives.
“$20,” a single from the album, is headed by Baker with effective support from the others, most noticeably Bridgers, and features some of the loudest guitars listeners will hear from the record. Baker paints nostalgic imagery, perhaps from her childhood, throughout the track. Lyrics like “How long’s the Chevy been on cinder blocks?” makes the listener believe Baker is returning home. Phoebe’s chilling screams of “I know you have $20,” give a satisfying ending to a song that built up all of this energy.
Next, we are hit with the first song on the track list that features the trio, “Cool About It.” Baker uses a similar gut-wrenching tactic heard on “$20,” calling back to her past, “asking easy questions about work and school,” and trying to be ‘cool about it,’ and “feeling like an absolute fool about it.” Dacus does the same, looking at an old relationship and being “prepared for absolution,” which is something that the person cannot give. Bridgers adds to the emotional potency, singing “Once I took your medication to know what it’s like/And now I have to pretend I can’t read your mind.”
Another song that features the trio individually is the fantastic “Not Strong Enough,” the sole single that featured all three members. The song's lyrical content is thematic to boygenius’ whole purpose: “The way I am not strong enough to be your man, I lied- I am- just lowering your expectations.” These lyrics embody the identity of the band, which is slyly named after men who have undying egos and disguise them as brilliance.
The last song that sheds light on the three members with distinctive verses is the last hard-hitter of the record, titled “Satanist.” This track contains the philosophies of each member, whether it is a satanist, anarchist, or nihilist. But “Satanist,” is about much more than those identities that the boys talk about, it is about wanting to be seen for an aspect of yourself and being respected for it, even if the other person does not share that very aspect. The last verse of the track sums this up: “You wonder if you can even be seen from so far away.”
The last song on the album, “Letter to an Old Poet,” is a call back to Bridgers’ solo track off of boygenius’ debut EP, titled “Me & My Dog.” The lyrics offer a rebuttal to the latter but do so in the same melody. “I wanna be happy, I’m ready to walk into my room without looking for you” demonstrates immense emotional growth from “I wanna be emaciated, I wanna hear one song without thinking of you.”
Fans are without a doubt satisfied by boygenius’ the record. Its emotional potency is undeniable, and each track feels like each member had a hand in its creation. A lot of love went into this album, and each member's love for each other is impossible to ignore as much of the tracks' content is regarding each member. The boys have so much respect for each other it is without a doubt they will work, in one way or another, together in the future- whether it is on a second record under boygenius, or as support for each artist’s solo endeavors. In other words, there is a bright future for boygenius.