They had first made music together when they released an EP to promote a joint-headline tour. When Bridgers sent Dacus and Baker a demo of the latter, she asked if they could 'be a band again'. Paul Simon is thanked as an inspiration on Cool About It while Emily I'm Sorry is an acoustic strum. It's not all about the power chords, either. Not Strong Enough is a brilliant homage to The Cure that works in a mention of one of that band's biggest songs ('Drag-racing through the canyon, singing Boys Don't Cry'), and there's even a track called Leonard Cohen. There's also a rich understanding of the rock canon. 'Some October, in the future, I'll run out of trash TV,' deadpans Dacus on We're In Love. The album articulates the hopes and anxieties of its millennial makers, while its songs are enriched via the inclusion of seemingly mundane everyday details.

From there, it's a case of fast-forwarding to the kind of full-tilt, but slightly off-kilter, rock and roll popularised by bands like the Pixies.

With the onus on the trio's a cappella vocals, Without You Without Them is an old-timey number about how our identities have been shaped by our ancestors. Oh boy (from left): Lucy Dacus, Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker Julien says she wanted 'sick riffs that made you truly giddy' - and The Record delivers. Recorded in Rick Rubin's Shangri-La Studios in Malibu, The Record is a bravura blend of chiming soft-rock, indie-pop and acoustic folk. Virginia-born Dacus is a vivid, funny songwriter and Baker, from Memphis, brings a crunching pop-punk sensibility to the table.Īny fears the collaboration might dilute their individual strengths are soon dispelled. Dacus and Baker, both 27 and from the American South, have also made their marks as solo artists. Bridgers, 28, is the best known over here, having duetted with Taylor Swift and supported The Rolling Stones.

For anyone confused by the name - a droll reference to the idea of the tortured male mastermind - Boygenius are an all-female affair, formed five years ago by Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker. singer-songwriters who are pooling their talents as Boygenius. Now the concept is being revived by three U.S. It dates back to the 1970s, when rock acts such as Cream and Emerson, Lake & Palmer were put together by musicians who had made their names in other bands.

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