Boygenius is an indie-folk singer-songwriter supergroup comprised of Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus. The trio released their first project, the self-titled EP “boygenius,” back in 2018, and since then, the landscape of indie-folk has changed drastically. While not solely responsible for this change, the group has informed the bulk of the biggest trends in indie-folk and made their individual names known to many. This year, with their impending reunion on the horizon, fans of each contributor, not to mention many in the larger music community, sat with bated breath for the release of their second collaboration, “the record.” While I enjoyed a majority of the album, in my eyes, it doesn’t function as a proportional collaboration, it doesn’t do anything to push the sound of indie-folk forward and it contains quite a few disappointing lyrical moments.
The album begins with warm a capella. “Without you. Without them” spotlights Dacus and serves as a very nice introduction to the project.
“20$” features a chugging indie-rock instrumental and playful synth that sounded a little plain at first, but grew on me quite a bit after repeated listens. I think most people will enjoy this track as a sonic-standout.
The following track, “Emily I’m Sorry,” features Bridgers as the focus and sounds like a reworked B-side from her 2020 album “Punisher.” The aesthetics haven’t changed much, but lyrically, Bridgers has come a long way from her dense confusion on “Punisher.” She still sounds a bit dejected, but she’s now able to display confidence in what she wants in life.
“True Blue” comes next with a similarly laid-back instrumental, this time featuring Dacus as the vocal focus. Unfortunately, I don’t think this track earns its runtime. Dacus is a wonderful singer, but her lyrics here don’t engage me at all, nor does any aspect of the production.
“Cool about it” follows with a heart-wrenching acoustic cut that—for the first time since the intro-track—feels like a proportional combination of all the artists present rather than just a reworked draft from Bridgers’, Baker’s or Dacus’ solo works. I especially enjoyed the inclusion of the banjo here.
“Not Strong Enough” features my favorite lyrical jab on the album, “always an angel, never a god.” Since its conception, boygenius has been a statement opposing the distressing imbalance between male and female representation in art. This is, by far, the track I return to the most.
The next two tracks function like a cooldown section in which we get a tiny break from the enormous emotional peaks of the rest of the album. “Revolution 0” sees Bridgers speaking on her mental health and paying tribute to her musical inspiration, Elliot Smith. Soon after, Dacas gives a short blip on intrapersonal closeness on “Leonard Cohen.”
After the cool-down comes “Satanist.” This cut features some sticky and angular indie-rock chords that give the track some great momentum. It goes in a similar direction as “20$,” but works a little better sonically in my opinion.
“We’re in love” follows right after. Dacus teeters between disillusionment and contentment while contemplating romantic closeness. If you enjoy this song as much as I do, I implore you to listen to some of Dacus’ solo material.
Next is “Anti-curse,” in which Baker mulls over her past mistakes, the most powerful being her near-death experience swimming in the ocean. According to “Rolling Stone” magazine, Bridgers had warned Baker about the dangers of the riptide on the day of the incident. Baker proceeded to disregard her warning and nearly drowned. Relistening to the track knowing the full context made the lyrics even more potent. I suggest fans of this group look into the plethora of stories and interviews online surrounding this album. They all serve as good enhancers.
Finally, the album closes with “Letter to an Old Poet.” From my view, it’s a perfect microcosm of my favorite and least favorite aspects of the album. It sounds wonderful, but it lacks polish lyrically and doesn’t feature each artist proportionally.
I don’t think it’s unreasonable for me to want a proportional, forward-thinking project from this trio. Their solo catalogs exude so much thought, emotion and creativity, and yet this album feels like a set of B-sides for the most part. That being said, B-sides from superb artists will always be good. I just expect better.