Northampton, MA · darkwave · minimal-synth

Boy Harsher

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Jae Matthews and Augustus Muller making darkwave that feels like a film score for something you shouldn't watch — throbbing synths, whispered menace, fog everywhere.

Jae Matthews and Augustus Muller met at film school in Savannah, Georgia, and began working together in 2013 as Teen Dreamz, pairing Matthews' spoken word with Muller's music. The project grew more danceable over the following year, and in 2014 they renamed themselves Boy Harsher and released their home-recorded debut EP, Lesser Man.

After relocating to Massachusetts, the duo released their debut album, Yr Body Is Nothing, in 2016. In 2018 they founded their own label, Nude Club, reissuing earlier material including a remixed version of the 2014 single 'Pain,' which went on to become an underground hit far beyond their immediate audience.

Their music draws on coldwave, EBM and minimal synth, built from drum machines, sequenced bass and analogue synthesisers under Matthews' spoken and whispered vocals. The combination gives the records a cinematic, unsettled quality that has helped drive a devoted cult following since the band's early years.

The pair have a strong interest in film, which runs through albums such as 2019's Careful and Muller's 2020 solo soundtrack, Machine Learning Experiments, written for two short films. In 2022 they directed their own short film, The Runner, releasing an accompanying soundtrack and screening it in theatres and on the streaming service Shudder.

Boy Harsher have also worked outside their own catalogue, collaborating with Danny Elfman in 2022, and Muller has released music separately under the name Safe Mind. In 2026 the duo signed to Atlantic Records and announced a third album, Get Mean, having also revealed they ended their relationship as a couple in 2024. They still perform as a two-piece, Muller on hardware, Matthews fronting the stage.

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darkwaveminimal-synth