EP Review: the rest | boygenius
The boys are back (again) (sorry we're a day late)
boygenius is back with dessert. After serving as an absolute entree in March, they returned with their new EP, the rest featuring four new tracks. These tracks continue the record of songs that weren’t quite ready. This EP is even more polished than the total length, as the boys have figured out how to communicate and strategically work together.
Phoebe described the new song batch, saying, “These four new songs don’t belong on the record to me. I have no idea where any of them would go in the sequence. They only make sense together.” Written and recorded in 3 days, the writing on this new EP is most similar to their original EP from 2018
the rest is exactly as described, not songs to be put out as a deluxe, not to be crammed into the record, but the rest. This extra little project should be treated as an additional project. The EP revolves around themes of love & untimely death and makes for some heartbreaking lyrics. To match its lyrical content. the rest features the soft indie vibe that boygenius is known for. It differs from the sound on the record in that it’s simplified here, most likely due to their 3-day studio time limit.
Although there is much to be happy with about the rest, I’m worried that boygenius fans will under-appreciate this mini-project and its warming elements. While I would be surprised to see fans put any of these tracks in the top 5 lists, everything on this project is worth some degree of admiration.
With the legendary boygenius revival era ending with their last scheduled show on Halloween in LA, we’re grateful to get a sample from our favorite boyband.
Check out our favorite tracks, listen to the album, and see our scores below:
Can’t Miss: Black Hole, Afraid of Heights
You Can Skip: none <3
BY THE NUMBERS
Bennett’s Score: 7.0/10
Carson’s Score: 7.0/10
Album Score: 14/20
Notes from Bennett:
I’m obsessed with how Julien sounds in the first verse of Black Hole, Julien is HIM. I’m also in love with the synth sounds on the latter half of this track and the whole mini-project
The vocal processing on Voyager is next level. Phoebe already has some intense vocal mixing going on anyway since she sings so quietly, but the spooky background vocals we get from the boys that are tucked into the muted rubber bridge guitar are gorgeous.
Just in love with the sound design and focus on simplicity on this EP, really is a masterclass in boygenius.
Notes from Carson:
This was good. Nothing quite upbeat enough that I find is the best on the record ($20, Not Strong Enough, Satanist, etc.)
Afraid of Heights is so good. Love U lucy <3
Don’t have much to say besides how odd the lyrics are on this EP. They must have been really into their science documentaries. Here’s some lyrics:
stars, black hole, vibrant, nuclear reactor, acid skin, alien, universe, experiment, powers, orbit, comet, destruction, supercollider, impact, fission, contact, collision,
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