The boys are back.
Since their 2018 debut, boygenius has taken the indie scene by storm. Unsurprisingly yet again Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker have expertly crafted a short EP of songs under the title the rest. This EP follows the release of their latest album, the record. Dacus explains to Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, “These are songs that weren’t ready for the record and then we spent time on them and they’re ready now.” The songs on the rest aren’t very developed and produced. However, they don’t lack feeling and blatant rawness is apparent.
Each of the boys has their own song where they seem to shine. The first three songs are under three minutes and are led by Julien, Lucy and Phoebe in that order. The last track, “Powers,” features all of the members of the band as a single unit with backing vocals done by Bridgers and Dacus but still has Baker as the main lead. boygenius tends to do this in their releases where they will assign a song to a single member and then have a few tracks that join all of their qualities together.
The opening track, “Black Hole,” is wonderfully dissonant and bare. A single note being played on beat opens the song up and is soon followed by what seems to be an acoustic guitar. Pianos and drums eventually make their way into the song. This is the only song on the EP that features drums. It feels like the drums are programmed and not something played by a human. Sometimes this choice can make a song sound too calculated but in “Black Hole” they fit right in.
The second track, “Afraid of Heights,” is an acoustic masterpiece sprinkled with hints of slide guitar. The song is soothing and reminiscent of folk music. Lucy Dacus is the lead in this song; her voice is gentle, yet powerful. She is able to express great emotion in her singing all while not pushing the feelings she wants to omit too hard.
“Voyager” is the third and second to last track of the EP. It opens with an ethereal humming that fills a lot of space in the song. The only other instrument is a delicate finger-picked guitar. Phoebe Bridgers’ voice is similar to Dacus’ due to the accomplishment of being gentle yet not boring. This song is considerably slower than the others but it does not feel out of place on the rest. It ends with the feeling that the song should continue, leaving the ending feeling a bit awkward but in a good way.
The final song, “Powers,” is based around a rugged indie-rock guitar and backing vocals by Bridgers and Dacus. It is the most produced song with a trumpet-like break at the end and features more instruments rather than just a guitar. As stated prior, Baker is the lead vocalist on this song. However, it being so produced does not make it the greatest song on the EP. It is not overproduced in any way but it feels less natural than the rest.
All of the songs on this release exhibit boygenius’ style and effortless feel. They do not have to try hard to sound good and have voices that meld together wonderfully. The rest, the record, and Boygenius are all amazing releases and continue to showcase the talent behind the names Phoebe, Julien and Lucy.
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