Boy genius full#
It took Baker three albums to embrace a full band, but Dacus incorporated a collaborative, expansive sonic palette while Baker was still largely making music on her own, noodling looped guitar, plinking piano chords, and double-tracking vocals. Maybe it’s my rockist sensibilities-OK, it’s definitely my rockist sensibilities-but I’m a sucker for smoldering, distorted guitar. And sure, “hooks” are hardly Baker’s biggest calling card or the be-all and end-all of musical quality, but I’m a simple man who wants to tap his foot and sing along.ĭacus is probably the least emo member of the trio, which may be bad or good, depending on your perspective. America may still be sleeping on Dacus, but since when is being the most popular a precondition for being the best? Dacus isn’t here for the fame: As she sang on the first song on her first album, “Is there room in the band? / I don’t need to be the front man.” That track, by the way, has more hooks in its first minute than you’ll hear on whole albums by Baker. She has the fewest followers of the three on social media, and tickets to her upcoming concerts are selling for the least money on the secondary market. Thus, they would probably recoil at the concept of seizing the spotlight or pursuing special praise at the others’ expenses as Dacus said in 2019, “I hope people see the three of us and know there isn’t competition.” With that “They’re all good!” disclaimer out of the way: In my mind and for my money, if there’s one boygenius member I’d least like to miss, it’s Lucy Dacus.ĭacus keeps a relatively low profile: She hasn’t donned a skeleton suit, smashed a guitar on Saturday Night Live, or guested on tracks by Taylor Swift, the Killers, or Kid Cudi. All three tackle tough themes-spirituality, sexuality, addiction, and mental health-with confessional, cathartic care, and they really respect and like each other. Because it would just be too simple to say “Go see them all,” we wondered: If you could buy a ticket to see only one member of boygenius, which would it be? Below, Ringer writers Ben Lindbergh, Michael Baumann, and Seerat Sohi consider that question and make the case for their favorite genius.īen Lindbergh: Before we start throwing blows and biting hands, let’s stipulate that music lovers are lucky to have three perceptive, sensitive, and self-reflective singer-songwriters like Bridgers, Baker, and Dacus releasing songs separately and occasionally combining their powers like crooning Birds of Prey. Lucy Dacus kicked off her concert trek in July and will remain on the road for almost two more months, which means that all three members of indie-rock supergroup boygenius will be playing live dates domestically throughout September and October. Louis and Baker embarking on her tour in Birmingham. Fingers crossed.On Friday, musicians Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker will (separately) return to the road for the first time since 2019, with Bridgers launching a U.S. It would be awesome if they could keep going with Boygenius, but it would also be logistically difficult. It’s an intimate setting, and tickets, which went for either $425 or $175, are already sold out.Īll three members of Boygenius were big deals when the group first formed, and they’re all bigger deals now.
The show goes down November 19 at Saint Joseph’s Arts Society in San Francisco, and it also features singer-songwriter Allison Russell. In a couple of weeks, they’ll reassemble for their first group performance since 2018.īoygenius are scheduled to play the fall benefit show for the Bay Area nonprofit Bread & Roses.
Since that tour wrapped up, the members of Boygenius have reunited to sing backup on each other’s solo records and on Hayley Williams’ “ Roses/Lotus/Violet/Iris.” But they haven’t played any Boygenius live shows. They released one great EP, and they toured together, with all three artists playing solo sets and then coming together as Boygenius at the end.
In 2018, Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus banded together to form a supergroup called Boygenius.