Comprising Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus -- three singer/songwriters each already deep into successful solo careers -- indie supergroup boygenius showcases Dacus' wit, Baker's emotionally active style, Bridgers' darkly confessional lyricism, and the collaborative magic that happens when the three come together. After releasing their self-titled debut EP in 2018, the band returned in 2023 with their first full-length effort, the Grammy-winning The Record, and a follow-up EP titled the rest. Baker, Bridgers, and Dacus became friends when their paths crossed during their respective and similarly paced rises to fame. All approach their craft from different angles, and Dacus and Baker both signed to Matador Records, while Bridgers signed to Dead Oceans around the same time. They would see each other by chance on the road, and grew closer through their unique shared experience of being young indie musicians in the process of breaking through to larger audiences. A plan was eventually hatched to form a collaborative group, basing the idea around a three-way co-headlining tour that would take place in November 2018. Preceding the tour, boygenius assembled in a studio for four days to write and record what would become their self-titled six-song EP, which represented the strengths of all three of the bandmembers and yielded something more than the sum of its parts. Boygenius was released in October 2018 on Matador, and the planned tour that led to the group's formation began weeks later. In 2020, they shared a collection of previously unreleased demos online, donating the proceeds to charity. Work on respective solo output took precedence for a time, but in March 2023 boygenius released their first full-length album. Written both separately and together, The Record was tracked over an intense one-month stay at Rick Rubin's Shangri-La studio. The resulting album, which hit number four on the Billboard 200, showcased a unified front, with the three songwriter's voices meshing to create a hefty, hooky, and slightly bittersweet record. The trio embarked on a tour afterward, playing to larger audiences than ever before and even selling out Madison Square Garden. In October boygenius released a four-song EP titled the rest, which saw them revisiting the kind of folkier, less-produced sound they started off playing. That November, The Record picked up seven Grammy nominations, ultimately winning Best Alternative Music Album, as well as Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance for the song "Not Strong Enough." ~ Fred Thomas

Ethel Cain, boygenius, Live at the Piece Hall

Ethel Cain

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