Many of us, by necessity or simply by habit of life, are writers and as such are admonished to brevity in all things written. Use only as many of the correct words, in the correct places, as are necessary to convey your thoughts to your audience. Band Boy Harsher appears to strive for this same brevity but in music and the conveyance of lyrical emotion. Theirs is a mesmerizing simplicity matched a rarified finesse that affirms access to the cold heartstrings they so longingly prey upon.

“I am gonna follow you tonight
All the way, all the way home”

Met in film school in Savannah, Georgia, Jae Matthews and Augustus (Gus) Muller would christen their initial band Teen Dreamz releasing a series of semi-abstract blendings of Jae’s spoken-word poetry and Gus’s avant-garde compositions. Only shortly thereafter becoming an expanded and newly rebranded Boy Harsher experience, a true amalgam of genres including EBM, darkwave, and unsettling electro/synth pop.

”I am gonna find you in the night
All the way, all the way home”

.

“Before, the writing was just prose that we layered with music. Now, going more into the direction of writing actual pop music pieces, you can’t really do that anymore. But I do still write from the same place, trying to recall a certain feeling, to mimic or find the tangible experience behind a specific memory. Most of these memories obviously have to do with heartbreak, lust and desire, anger or disappointment,” Jae explains. “It’s easiest to write about things that really get you off. It’s so boring to write about stuff that doesn’t come from an actual place of passion.”

Interestingly, song “Pain” would arrive on the initial Boy Harsher homespun EP release “Lesser Man” becoming a fast fan-favorite and iconic techno after-party standard in megacities including Paris and London. The track bleeds their characteristic minimalist darkness while driving forward a hypnotic portrayal of rhythmic exchanges of discomfort, disquiet, and blindness inherent in only the most lovingly sadomasochistic relationships.

”I want you to turn off the light
Your side, your dark side
Pain, I love pain”

~

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Boy Harsher’s horror film short “The Runner” can be streamed on AMC+