It’s with glory that I say BOYGENIUS IS BACK!!! 6 months after the release of The Record the group’s debut album, they launched a 4 track EP called The Rest, full of songs that weren’t included. The band performed the songs live on multiple occasions and announced the EP on September 25 for the release date on the 13th of October. To learn more from each track, here’s a list of the four and a review of them individually.
Black Hole
The opener of the album is sung by Julien Baker with a piano ballad, and it transitions with an urgent drumming constructing an angry sentiment. The last verse is the song Apex and its main voice is Lucy Dacus recalling the banger “Not Strong Enough” from The Record.
The lyrics are a basic repetition of feelings and/or words, like “White teeth, black light, white tee, brown eyes/Bad boy, big fight, you’re a good guy/Good day, good night, good talk, goodbye” and that is the main key to express a nervous, anxious sentiment in music, also used in songs like “I Know the End” by Phoebe Bridgers, a member of the group. Black Hole is a great opener and shows a little of what the EP will be like, and the possible similarities that it has with their debut album.
Afraid of Heights
A strong start without any fade in and the voice of Lucy Dacus, storms our ears in a guitar ballad about the development and problems of a relationship between someone who lives a “dangerous” life and someone who lives a simple, peaceful life. The song is filled with the challenges that the partner caused the girl, all the ways they made her uncomfortable and called her names, best illustrated in the lyrics
Told you I’m afraid of heights/It made you wanna test my courage. You wanted me to jump, and I declined /You called me a coward, I replied/’I don’t wanna live forever/But I don’t want to die tonight.
Afraid of Heights lyrics
The song explains the poetic persona’s relationship with life and fear, how they handle it, and how things the partner said affected them. Lucy being the main voice makes it so beautifully sung and transports the listener to the dreadful feeling the lyrics express, the backing vocals by Bridgers and Baker take the song up a notch and harmonize it in gratefulness.
Voyager
A devoted love song interpreted mostly by Phoebe Bridgers, “Voyager” presents the singer’s only solo vocals in the new EP, and it portrays more Bridgers solo career vibes than Boygenius. The group performed the song before its release date on September 28, 2023, at Westville Music Bowl.
The track is full of little love snippets, like “There are days spent tangled up together (Mmm) /And sometimes, you let me read your mind (Ooh)”. The classic Phoebe guitar riff flows throughout the track, making the acoustic vibes clear and melancholic. The track was named after a spacecraft called Voyager 1 and the references to space do not end there, bringing to this song the metaphor of the moon present in many of her records in the lyric “Walkin’ alone in the city/Makes me feel like a man on the moon (Ooh)/Every small step I took was so easy (Mmm)”. She is not the only singer, Baker and Dacus make the background voices, creating beautiful harmonies and the track angelic.
Powers
The encore of the EP is the track called “Powers”, a guitar–based, sung mostly by Julien Baker, bringing the acoustic grunge vibes the singer had shown in her solo career and as well in Boygenius. The lyrics circle around the feeling of being an outsider, but they made it into an origin story of a superhero or villain, we can see dabs of famous stories, like the first line “How did it start? Did I fall into a nuclear reactor?/Crawl out with acid skin or somethin’ worse” recalling the transformation in comics books the villains go through to gain their powers.
The first verse ends with the song persona questioning the tale of how they got their abilities. Finishing in a minute instrumental outro with wind instruments and the classic guitar riff, the song ends in a melancholic way only Boygenius knows how to portray.
All throughout the EP is a great summary of The Record, it has a perfect mixture of excitement, anxiety, and sadness and that pretty much summons up the whole “sad girl” the group has created. The slow melodies and good harmonies really express the sentiment they were able to externalize. Even though it is a really short EP and feels like it’s missing something and the songs don’t feel planned, it’s a great union of music and emotions and for every Boygenius fan, it seals the deal for the debut album released earlier this year.
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The article above was edited by Beatriz Gatz.
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