REVIEW: boygenius’ ‘The Rest’

Written by George Wainwright

On their 2023 debut LP The Record, supergroup boygenius cemented their status as the ultimate indie sweethearts. Consisting of solo artists Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus and Phoebe Bridgers, the three-piece have returned hot on the heels of their critically acclaimed full-length album. Plainly entitled The Rest, the latest boygenius project shares with fans four more tracks from the cutting room floor. 

‘Black Hole’ is the first song to be revealed from the vault of unreleased melodies, a glitchy piano ballad akin to LCD Soundsystem or Aphex Twin. At odds with the jumpy instrumental, Julien Baker narrates the opening chapter of the EP with her signature soft sounding voice. She is joined on the back end of the track by Lucy Dacus before ‘Black Hole’ collapses in on itself in a serene flurry of electronic drum beats and synths. ‘Afraid of Heights’ succeeds the opening title and is spearheaded vocally by Dacus. “I never rode a motorcycle, I never smoked a cigarette” she admits, atop a twanging western style guitar arrangement. Adverse to the climate of extremist celebrity behaviour as portrayed frequently on social media, the lyrics divulge in a heart on the sleeve confessions checklist, with no emotional stone left unturned.

During a spate of recent live dates, ‘The Boys’ – as coined endearingly by their fans – have been interpolating their setlist stalwarts with previously unreleased material taken from The Rest. One such song has generated quite a stir amongst audiences, particularly those with an affinity towards indie darling Phoebe Bridgers. The penultimate offering on the EP is titled ‘Voyager‘, a tear-jerking acoustic take performed solely by Bridgers. In reference to a song from her solo sophomore album, she laments “I never imagined a dot quite as pale or as blue… You took it from me but I would’ve given it to you”. This closing refrain serves as a gut-wrenching call-back to ‘Moon Song’, a deep cut title from Bridgers’ solo back catalogue. Despite not having taken a spot on the album track list, ‘Voyager‘ has all the feels of a cult classic in the making. 

The Rest is bookended gorgeously by ‘Powers’, a metaphorical musing on a superhero origin story. Rarely should a listener take a boygenius composition at face value; and so, the philosophy applies to the closing statement on the EP. Be it a veiled analogy of gender identity – “Am I simply another of the universe’s failed experiments?” – or a further consolidation of the love the three bandmates share, ‘Powers’ is a ponderous note with which The Rest concludes, fading away with a mystical orchestral arrangement. Boygenius are a band continually hellbent on healing a world full of adversity and atrocity. From front to back, their latest release is brimming with an abundance of joy; but with fair warning that some tears may be shed along the way.