Boy Harsher
Boy Harsher · 2013–
OVERVIEW
Jae Matthews and Augustus Muller, formed in Savannah in 2013 and based in Massachusetts. Muller builds the tracks from analogue drum machines and sequencers; Matthews writes and performs the vocals, often close-miked and half-spoken.
The sound is minimal wave and EBM, built from very few elements: a kick, a bass sequence, one or two synth lines, and a voice that is intimate rather than declamatory.
WHY IT MATTERS
Adds sensuality and restraint to the archive’s colder industrial axis.
CONTEXT
They run their own label, Nude Club, and in 2022 released The Runner, a short horror film with an accompanying soundtrack, directed by the duo. It is the clearest statement of how they understand the music: as something with a setting and a body in it.
Matthews has spoken publicly about writing through illness and memory loss, which is audible in how the lyrics repeat and circle.
START HERE
- 01Yr Body Is Nothing (2016)The debut. Rawer, more claustrophobic, closest to the tape-era minimal wave they came from.
- 02Careful (2019)The record that widened the sound without softening it. Better production, same restraint.
- 03The Runner (2022)Soundtrack and film together. Hear the music doing a job other than being listened to.
WHAT TO NOTICE
- 01Almost nothing is happeningCount the parts. Usually three or four. The tension comes from what is withheld rather than layered.
- 02The voice is closeMatthews is recorded near the microphone and sits forward of the machines. The intimacy is a mixing decision as much as a performance.
- 03Analogue driftThe sequences move slightly against the grid. Nothing is quantised into place, which is why a very repetitive track does not feel mechanical.
CONNECTIONS
- RESTRAINT AGAINST EXCESSHEALTH / HEALTH
Two contemporary answers to the same inheritance. Boy Harsher strips the machine down to three or four parts and a close voice; HEALTH buries a clean pop melody under as much distortion as it will take.
EXPLORE FURTHER
- OFFICIAL / boyharsher.comBoy Harsher
Releases and the Nude Club label, including The Runner.