Stream: Three songs from Boygenius (Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus and Phoebe Bridgers)
Kevin Bronson on
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Do three songwriters, average age 23, with a total of five albums between them, constitute a supergroup? If you judge the first songs from Boygenius (rendered boygenius) qualitatively, yes.
The new project features Memphis singer-songwriter Julien Baker, 22, Virginia’s Lucy Dacus, 23, and L.A.’s Phoebe Bridgers, 24. All are in the formative years of solo careers that mark them as some of the strongest voices in their generation. On Tuesday they released three songs — “Stay Down,” “Me & My Dog” and “Bite The Hand” — from an EP that will be released Nov. 9 by Matador Records. They are stunning in their simplicity: Warm melodic blankets stitched with deeply personal lyrics, plaintively real.
The trio explained that the collaboration began through a series of chance encounters and shared tour dates. “When we met, Lucy and Phoebe and I were in similar places in our lives and our musical endeavors, but also had similar attitudes toward music that engendered an immediate affinity,” Baker explains. “Lucy and Phoebe are incredibly gifted performers, and I am a fan of their art outside of being their friends, but they are also both very wise, discerning and kind people whom I look up to in character as much as in talent.”
“A long time ago, before I even met Phoebe, Julien mentioned that she had a pipe dream of starting a band with both of us,” Dacus says. “Then we booked this tour and decided the time was right.”
“It seemed obvious to record a 7-inch for tour, although many adult men will try to take credit for the idea,” Bridgers adds. “When we got together, we had way more songs than we expected and worked so well together, that we decided to make a full EP.”
The six-song EP was made in June in L.A.’s Sound City studio. Baker is at the front for “Stay Down;” Dacus seethes on “Bite the Hand;” and Bridgers narrates a dooomed relationship on “Me & My Dog.”
Of the creative process, Baker says: “Everyone seemed both confident enough to present ideas and fight for their individual vision, but considerate and humble enough to make decisions which ultimately served the song. It was a process that required a balance of determination and forthrightness with graciousness and pliability, and I think that we all did a good job of enacting that.”
A November tour featuring all three artists arrives at the Wiltern on Nov. 30.
||| Stream: “Stay Down,” “Me & My Dog” and “Bite The Hand”
||| Live: Julien Baker & Phoebe Bridgers with Lucy Dacus perform Nov. 30 at the Wiltern. Tickets on sale at 10 a.m. Friday.
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