I screamed and almost threw my phone across the room the minute I saw boygenius announce their newest album: The Rest. Like most college-aged girls, Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker have an absolute death grip on my life. Like many others, their music has given me solitude and comfort within the lyrical complexity and melodic sound they compose. Like the rest of their discography, this album has put words to emotions and experiences I have fallen short on describing.
The album opens with “Black Hole,” a synth filled song describing this intense relationship of turmoil and emerging on the other side as a better person – a star that a black hole created. To me, this song felt similar to their song “Bite the Hand” off of their E.P. Both songs include a chant-like section that really grabs your attention.
“Afraid of Heights” was the wildcard song that we all needed. Dacus is on vocals and sings about her hesitancy towards death while being accompanied by the steady strum of a guitar. While the narrative she paints is both exciting and reckless, she voices her concern on gambling with life: “I don’t want to live forever/But I don’t want to die tonight.” “Afraid of Heights” is the most lyrically complex song off of the album. Like many of Dacus’ other works, it is filled with deep dialogue and imagery such as: “The black water ate you up/like a sugar cube in a cup”.
Be warned, “Voyager,” while my favorite off of the album, does fall into the boygenius song category of “cry on the floor and rethink life.” This song highlights Bridgers on vocals with her usual simplistic chords, double meaning lyrics, and, of course, references to the moon. To me, this song is about finally letting go and moving on from your first real love. Through the lyricism, she evokes such strong feelings of nostalgia and naiveté of a person in love. But, while they are in love, they know that everything within their relationship is confusing and destructive. Eventually, she paints the idea that they were finally able to break free and live her life with ease. Overall, “Voyager” is a classic ‘Phoebe’ song; extremely vocal focused and intertwined with rich guitar and backing “hmms” from Baker and Dacus.
Baker closes the album and leaves us with the question: “How did I become who I am?” She and her guitar lead us through “Powers,” a song filled with comic-book origin clichés to try to answer the age-old question of self-reflection and purpose. The song closes out with a duet between the guitar and trumpet, and somehow boygenius made this small combination hold immense weight. When listening, I was left with this feeling of melancholic questioning, and I wanted more.
While I do prefer The Record over The Rest, I truly believe that boygenius continuously hits the bullseye. Their friendship and love for each other is palpable through their work, and each artist brings their own different, unique sound to the table. And this, when meshed together, blesses us with the uniqueness of boygenius.