Graham Reid | | 1 min read
The American alt.folk-cum-rock supergroup of Lucy Dacus, Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker – downplaying with the lowercase band name and the humble title of this debut album – will doubtless find an audience which remembers 90s bands like the Breeders, Throwing Muses and Belly, but who these days prefer their grunge-era aggression more subdued.
boygenius cleverly balance the spectrum with pared-back folk and ballads: the a cappella close-harmony of Without You Without Them; the thoughtful message on the gorgeous Emily I'm Sorry; the sketchy narrative of the dreamy True Blue and the finger-picking Cool About It.
Bumping against those are songs with familiar indie.rock characteristics: the chugging $20 and Anti-Curse with its modicum of self-loathing anxiety: “I guess I did alright considering I tried to be a halfway decent friend. Wound up a bad comedian, an honest fool with more bad habits than you can count”.
They also hit pop-rock mid-ground (Satanist).
While their matchless vocals play off their similarities and differences there's melodic certainty and perhaps even over-familiarity at play however.
The trio – co-credited on all 12 songs – are lyrically refined, deliver a withering comeuppance to a sleazy fellow on the hushed Letter to an Old Poet and make a tart quip about Leonard Cohen on a song of that name: “Leonard Cohen once said, 'There a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in'. I am not an old man having an existential crisis at a Buddhist monastery writing horny poetry, but I agree”.
The enticing boygenius suggest calm and secure waters, but there are deep, self-empowering undercurrents beneath the surface.
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You can hear and buy this album at bandcamp here
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