It’s finally happening: Boygenius (the supergroup consisting of Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker) is reuniting to release their first full-length album, The Record. The trio shared the news today, along with fascinating tales about how some of the album’s songs came to be. One track, for example, started with Dacus and Bridgers on drugs, lying in bed and holding each other’s faces as Dacus cried and sang.
In a press release about the album, an excerpt about “We’re In Love” reads:
“Lucy first sang ‘We’re In Love’ a cappella to Phoebe, in Phoebe’s bed, on New Years Day in 2022. They were holding each other’s faces: a function of totally legal drugs. Lucy was weeping and did not blink. Later, in the studio, Julien thought the song was too… long. In retrospect, Julien hadn’t been ready to engage. When the truth sank in, the truth of a love song, she went away for six hours. (Julien: ‘It’s still a learning process to know the difference between being scrutinized and being seen.’) Then she came back. She was ready.”
The release also notes, “The Record is about recapturing joy — about the wasteful detour that turns out not to be the most important thing.” That’s in reference to the story behind a song called “Leonard Cohen”: “Once, when boygenius was on a road trip in Northern California, Phoebe asked Julien and Lucy to listen to a very important song, and pushed play, and got on the freeway headed in the wrong direction. The song was ‘Trapeze Swinger’ by Iron & Wine — about a dead person telling the living how he wants to be remembered. It was impossible to interrupt this ten-minute-long song. Because of how the exits were spaced, ‘Trapeze Swinger’ added an hour to their travel time. Phoebe felt like an idiot. Lucy turned that drive into the song ‘Leonard Cohen.’”
The Record is out 3/31 via Interscope. Pre-order it here.