Jae Matthews and Augustus Muller, the darkwave duo down Boy Harsher, propulsion listeners into the depths of a dance-club trance, delivering beat-heavy tracks that instrumentality successful the mind.
Formed successful 2014, the task rapidly captured the imaginations of a devoted subculture, uniting those with a shared appetite for dark, shadow-drenched electronica. Through minimalist synths and Matthews’ sultry vocals, aboriginal records similar Yr Body Is Nothing and Careful established the dependable that came to specify the duo.
They archetypal crossed paths successful 2013, bonding implicit shared interests successful filmmaking and abstract art. That national grew into a decade-long originative and romanticist relationship. Though the 2 divided romantically successful 2024, they recovered solace and healing done their latest album, Get Mean.
Boy Harsher spoke with the Weekly astir the medium earlier their House of Blues Las Vegas amusement connected October 20.
It’s been immoderate clip since Boy Harsher came retired with a accepted medium similar Get Mean. Tell america a spot astir the songwriting process for this project?
Jae Matthews: We did it separately. I was traveling a lot, driving each implicit America, besides spent immoderate clip successful Mexico, and we were conscionable benignant of postal service-style situation.
Augustus Muller: We benignant of reinvented the medium a fewer times. We had immoderate demos that we took to the workplace and re-recorded with much vintage synths, and past we started playing guitar connected apical of it. We knew we wanted to marque a connection with this grounds and took our clip to marque definite the songs could get arsenic acold arsenic they could go.
How does that collaboration work?
AM: It feels similar luck a batch of the time. I’ll nonstop immoderate instrumentals to Jae, and she’ll respond and sometimes they click and sometimes they don’t. We thin to bash the ones that consciousness much instinctual.
Jae, erstwhile it comes to lyric writing, are you the beryllium down and constitute type, oregon are you much penning connected the go?
JM: I enactment successful some practices. Usually erstwhile we’re processing a song, successful the genesis of that song, I’ll accidental words that aren’t solid. Just to fig retired whether oregon not I dependable good. But past erstwhile we’ve decided we similar the song, we similar the melody, I’ll excavation my postulation of notes ... I’ll spell backmost successful and benignant of cod those pieces and effort to make it into a narrative.
Could you archer america astir the communicative of Get Mean?
JM: A batch of the songs are grappling with rejection and heartbreak, but past determination are immoderate songs that are much silly. For instance, “Jeans,” that’s a opus that Gus came to maine with a precise chiseled thought successful mind. And past determination are anthemic songs, for lawsuit “Faulty.” The lyrics are a small dour, but to maine it’s a celebratory, “I Will Survive” benignant of song.
With “Jeans,” there’s a batch of online sermon from fans talking astir this being the astir upbeat task you have, contempt what it came retired of. At first, I got that from “Jeans,” past I really listened to it. What bash you deliberation astir it being perceived that mode truthful far?
JM: I deliberation it’s a small lazy because, similar you said, you perceive to the album, and we’re inactive exploring the aforesaid benignant of acheronian successful presumption of sonic energy. Sure, the songs are brighter, but I was genuinely successful hell. I was successful a pit, truthful I couldn’t perceive to bittersweet music. I wanted to perceive to thing that was airy and large and could assistance maine up retired of an incredibly acheronian place, and truthful I deliberation we were penning demos that felt much attuned to that space.
What bash you deliberation Augustus?
AM: Whenever we constitute music, we’re conscionable trying to marque thing sincere and thing that feels ocular to america and resonates with us. We wanted thing that was cathartic. So, instrumentality it arsenic you will, but it’s coming from a sincere spot.
Augustus, earlier you mentioned that determination were elements you gravitated towards connected this medium similar the guitar. Can you speech astir that?
AM: We truly produced the hellhole retired of this record. We utilized each my cogwheel astatine home, which is simply a beauteous monolithic room astatine this point, and past we each went to a synth room successful Texas and utilized adjacent more. I was capable to interaction these old, precise uncommon synthesizers that I’d ne'er utilized before, and we were conscionable stacking and stacking truthful galore sounds connected apical of each other. Then erstwhile we got down to mixing this situation, it was astir feeling overproduced.
I said, Well, we’re penning “Jeans,” and it’s benignant of a guitar-driven song, but we’re utilizing guitar samples. I was like, what if we really usage a guitar connected this song? So, I prime it up, and I deliberation I had been truthful inundated with conscionable physics sounds for truthful agelong that proceeding an acoustic instrumentality for the archetypal clip successful a agelong time, I was like, wow, there’s really thing to this, and the guitar is truly beautiful, and it was capable to benignant of regenerate 4 oregon 5 sounds. The guitar helped america bring it backmost to the minimalist quality that we benignant of thrive in.
Speaking of going backmost to your roots, you 2 are filmmakers too. Can you archer america astir the accompanying ocular elements for Get Mean?
AM: We were truly fortunate to beryllium awarded this accidental to person budgets for our videos this time, and we utilized it arsenic an accidental to research themes that person been turning astir our brains forever.
Many years ago, I saw the Calvin Klein ads, and I became truthful fixated connected them. We utilized that arsenic a starting disconnected constituent for each these unusual small teasers and interludes, and past based connected that, we besides had these 3 videos that we knew we were gonna marque contented for: “Jeans,” “Hard Beat,” and “Faulty.”
So, “Faulty,” we’re similar let’s wrapper up the Calvin Klein wood paneling, let’s bring it each back. With “Jeans,” erstwhile you (Augustus), were penning that opus you were like, “I privation enactment dancing with latex.” That was the billboard successful Gus’ mind.
Second video that we made, “Hard Beat,” we’ve ever been truly into mediocre man’s process. It’s driving footage and “Hard Beat” is specified a driving opus that we knew we wanted to contiguous the traveling constituent of it. We had truthful overmuch amusive making those videos, we changeable them connected 35 millimeter.
No way, that’s truly cool.
AM: We were ever beauteous blimpish astir the euphony videos we made successful the past, and this time, arsenic we’ve been leaning much into wanting to go filmmakers, it’s this unthinkable accidental to assistance soma retired the album. We enactment our full selling fund into the euphony videos. We didn’t bargain ads, we didn’t bargain billboards ... no, we were conscionable like, we’re gonna marque small films. Some mightiness accidental that’s a atrocious idea, but it felt the truest for us.
JM: Yeah, and we got to research the elements of filmmaking that are astir exciting. I emotion casting, and it was an accidental for maine to question retired conscionable freaks and fascinating creatures.
Is determination a opus connected Get Mean that unlocked the absorption for the remainder of the album?
JM: I heard the truly unsmooth operation of “Jeans” erstwhile I was surviving successful West Texas, successful the mediate of nowhere, truly isolated godforsaken script and was astir apt successful a depressive state. When I heard “Jeans” I was like, okay, we person an album. I don’t adjacent cognize why, due to the fact that to maine it isn’t rather thematically insular. It’s a spot of an outlier. But that was the infinitesimal for immoderate reason, and possibly it’s much of a cosmic acquisition wherever I was like, we’re doing this.
AM: “Ronny” was an aboriginal opus we wrote, and I deliberation that is similar the touchstone for the atmosphere. It’s airy and sparse and a small spot bittersweet and a small spot subdued.
There was an analogy I was utilizing aboriginal connected the penning process of like, what does this medium dependable like? It sounded similar the time aft a funeral, and you’re driving home, you’re conscionable gutted and drained, and you’re seeing a sunrise, and it’s beautiful, but you person perfectly thing near wrong you to respond to it.
Boy Harsher has been to Vegas a mates of times before. Is determination thing astir this metropolis that stands retired to you two?
AM: It’s a tiny dedicated metropolis of euphony lovers. It’s evidently a monolithic city, but determination is this halfway hidden beneath the noise, and it is chill to spot that we spot a batch of the aforesaid faces erstwhile we travel out.
JM: Yeah, similar the gothic underbelly is strong. ... It’s cool, but it’s perchance the weirdest spot to person that.
AM: But there’s thing benignant of lonely astir it, isn’t it? Vegas is simply a batch of noise, but it’s a small lonely.
I would accidental so. It takes immoderate clip to find your people.
AM: I deliberation that’s thing we tin subordinate to.
BOY HARSHER With True Blue, Kassie Krut. October 20, 7 p.m., $49, House of Blues, ticketmaster.com.
English (US)·