boygenius, the band of Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus have released their self-titled EP debut two weeks early today on Matador Records / Remote Control.
Fans can stream the EP now on all digital services, while the physical version will be available on the official release date of November 9. boygenius will also make their late-night television debut on November 5, playing ‘Me & My Dog’ which Pitchfork deemed a Best New Track, on Late Night with Seth Meyers.
Baker, Bridgers, and Dacus formed boygenius after booking a tour together, but the trio had subconsciously been in the works for longer than that. Through a series of tours and performances together, and chance encounters that led to friendships – including Bridgers’ and Dacus’ first in-person meeting backstage at a Philadelphia festival, greenroom hangouts that felt instantly comfortable and compatible, a couple of long email chains and even a secret handshake between Baker and Dacus – the lyrically and musically arresting singer-songwriters and kindred spirits got to know each other on their own terms.
With gut-wrenchingly personal yet easily relatable verses and spare, lilting melodic arrangements, all three are leading a new rock vanguard that values unflinching self-awareness and unassailable songcraft. Baker’s sophomore LP Turn Out the Lights and Bridgers’ debut Stranger in the Alps (Dead Oceans) swept best-of-2017 lists, while Dacus’ meditation on loss, Historian, has already become one of 2018’s most lauded releases.
In early June of 2018, they practiced and wrote for a day before holing up in Los Angeles’ storied Sound City studios. Each brought one finished song and one idea to boygenius, and though all six songs were fleshed out and finalized together, each reflects the sensibilities of its initial author. Baker’s slow builds and taut vocals add urgency to ‘Souvenir’ and ‘Stay Down,’ while album opener ‘Bite the Hand‘ roils with slow-burning layers of guitar as Dacus stands in her devastating truth: “I can’t love you like you want me to.” The Bridgers-architected ‘Me & My Dog’ chugs into view with a deceptively simple open-road riff andBridgers’ insistent recounting of a relationship that couldn’t help but fall apart.
Purchase / Stream boygenius: https://boygenius.lnk.to/EP
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