Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus formed boygenius after booking a tour together, but the trio had subconsciously been in the works for longer than that. Through a series of tours and performanc- es together, and chance encounters that led to friendships – including Bridgers’ and Dacus’ first in-person meeting backstage at a Philadel- phia festival, greenroom hangouts that felt instantly comfortable and compatible, a couple of long email chains and even a secret hand- shake between Baker and Dacus – the lyrically and musically arresting singer-songwriters and kindred spirits got to know each other on their own terms. “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.” With gut-wrenchingly personal yet easily relatable verses and spare, lilting melodic arrangements, all three are leading a new rock van- guard that values unflinching self-awareness and unassailable song- craft. Baker’s sophomore LP Turn Out the Lights and Bridgers’ debut Stranger in the Alps swept best-of-2017 lists, while Dacus’ meditation on loss, Historian, has already become one of 2018’s most lauded re- leases. “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,” says Dacus. “Then we booked this tour and decided the time was right.”