boygenius

Comprised of Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus — three singer/songwriters each already deep into successful solo careers — indie supergroup boygenius showcases Dacus’ wit, Baker’s emotionally active style, Bridgers’ darkly confessional lyricism, and the collaborative magic that happens when the three come together. After releasing their self-titled EP in 2018, the band returned in 2023 with their first full-length effort The Record.
Baker, Bridgers, and Dacus became friends as their paths crossed during their respective and similarly paced rises to fame. All approach their craft from different angles, and Dacus and Baker both signed to Matador Records and Bridgers to Dead Oceans around the same time. They would see each other by chance on the road, growing closer through the unique shared experience of being young indie musicians in the process of breaking through to larger audiences. A plan was eventually hatched to form a collaborative group, basing the idea around a three-way co-headlining tour that would take place in November of 2018.
Preceding the tour, boygenius assembled in a studio for four days to write and record what would become their self-titled six-song EP, which represented the strengths of all three of the bandmembers and yielded something outside the sum of its parts. The EP was released in October of 2018 on Matador, and the planned tour that led to the band’s formation began weeks later. In 2020, the band shared a collection of previously unreleased demos online, donating the proceeds to charity. Work on respective solo output took precedence for a time, but in the beginning of 2023, the trio announced that their first full-length album, The Record, would be released in March of that year. The Record was recorded with Rick Rubin and set to be released through major-label Interscope. In advance of the album’s release, boygenius shared three of its 12 songs. ~ Fred Thomas