I saw the pictures forever ago: Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus and Phoebe Bridgers all together, for a photoshoot, and I knew more boygenius content had to be coming. And boy, was I glad I was right. On January 18th, the iconic indie trio announced the release of their first full length joint album, the record, dropped 3 singles that day, and another single on March 1st before releasing the full album on March 31st.
Sitting down on the 31st and hitting play on the full album, I knew within the first minute that I was already completely in love with it. My eyes literally felt like they were bugging out of my head as I listened to “Without You Without Them,” a beautiful, gentle and mostly acoustic love letter to the friendship between the three members of boygenius. The record is a triumph, perfectly blending the unique sounds and vocals of the three women throughout the entire thing; their friendship and their love for not just each other, but also each other’s talents is so incredibly evident with this album. Each song presents a unique opportunity for each of the women to lend their vocals to a song in another’s style– “$20” is my favorite example of this, with the song bearing Julien’s signature vibe and sound, but featuring Phoebe’s screaming, haunting, vocals. Ughh, I just love this album so much.
However, two of my favorite tracks, at least as I’m writing this (every time I listen to the album I find a new thing to love) are “Anti-Curse” and “Letter to an Old Poet;” this is unsurprising as these two tracks bear the most similarity to my favorite songs from the 2018 boygenius EP, “Salt in the Wound” and “Me & My Dog.” “Anti-Curse” was my instant favorite the first time listening through the album; I’m not even 100% sure what it is that makes me so drawn to it, but the minute I heard it, I knew it was mine. “Letter to an Old Poet” includes a verse that was originally written for “Me & My Dog” but never used, and its effect in this song is incredible, especially as the listener is likely expecting the lyrics from “Me & My Dog.” It’s the perfect way to close the album.
I love boygenius, I love the record, and I can’t wait to keep listening to it over and over again.