Boygenius

Boygenius, the supergroup comprising Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker, and Lucy Dacus, released their debut full-length album in March 2023 and spent the better part of the following year establishing that supergroups formed from musicians who genuinely admire each other produce different results than the kind assembled for commercial reasons.

The three members had released a collaborative EP in 2018 that was received as a minor miracle of tone and compatibility. The five years between that EP and the full album generated significant anticipation, and the record delivered in ways that anticipated records rarely do. The songs on The Record work because the three voices are genuinely different and the differences create something that none of the three could have produced individually.

Baker writes about faith and substance abuse with an intensity that requires a specific kind of listener in the solo context. Dacus writes about memory and relationship with a precision that is emotionally quiet and structurally exact. Bridgers operates in the space between dread and dark humor that has become her signature. Together, the three create something that is more accessible than any of their solo work while being no less intelligent.

The 2023 tour was one of the more attended of the year. The performances were documented and reviewed extensively. The question of when or whether there will be a follow-up has not been answered, but the existence of The Record as a complete artistic statement means the question is less urgent than it might be for a less fully realized debut.