Massachusetts dark synth duo, BOY HARSHER have unveiled their video for the fantastic “Face the Fire”, a song that is included on their upcoming full length LP, Careful—an album that promises “a wild ride that celebrates feelings of abandon whilst mourning attachment and love”.
With rousing synth sequences steeped in forlorn nostalgia, the deep and mesmerizing “Face the Fire” showcases a wide dynamic range of intense emotion spanning from deepest loneliness to hedonistic abandon.
This is augmented by the accompanying audio-visual piece for the song, directed by synth maestro Augustus Muller, who weaves a Lynchian fable from the shoreline waves on a beach, to the unsettled red tinged glow of a seedy hotel room, evoking part Teresa Banks from Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, and part Andy Warhol’s ill-fated muse Edie Sedgwick.
Here is more information on the harrowingly intimate Careful, Boy Harsher’s most cohesive collection of songs to date:
“Boy Harsher began through an urgent need to produce and consume. In the winter of 2014, Jae Matthews and Augustus Muller started to experiment with sound, video and text; the advent of Boy Harsher. Born out of this tumultuous relationship in swampy Georgia, their first EP ‘Lesser Man’ (various pressings 2014 – 2018, Soft Science/Night People/Aufnahme + Wiedergabe/Nude Club) is sexy as it is sulking. ‘Lesser Man’ determined their morose pop sound. In their second release, the full length ‘Yr Body is Nothing’ (various pressings 2016 – 2018, DKA Records/Nude Club) Matthews and Muller took that darkness and ran with it. Both releases reflect the fervor present in their adolescent lust and anger. Yet before Matthews and Muller recorded any songs, their chaos made the project vulnerable and invariably lead to momentary destruction. In what was at the time believed to be their last performance, Matthews had “careful” tattooed across her back whilst Muller fried the speakers. A lit candle was thrown. They were not on speaking terms.
Matthews had “careful” tattooed across her back…
At that time “Careful” was meant as a warning: the cautionary understanding of love. The duo felt as though they were disappearing within one another. But, if Boy Harsher’s first two releases narrated the pain and desperation that follows after something goes awry, then this LP, Careful, describes what loves gives you: fear and joy, tenderness and pain. For Boy Harsher, ‘Careful’ attempts to detail the enveloping trauma of loss combined with the fantasy of escape.
Matthews and Muller certainly made amends since that fateful live tattooing, however both still have complex relationships to attachments. In 2017 Matthews’ mother was diagnosed with dementia and as the symptoms began to take hold the essence of “careful” became relevant in a new way. Matthews’ relationship with her parents has always been complicated: her father passed away when she was a teenager and her mother is an alcoholic, consistently unpredictable with affection and stability. The loss of her father was extreme, yet acute, whereas the persistent sadness of losing her mother (the memories that defined their relationship) is a slow, chronic suffering. The trauma of losing someone is almost in tandem to Matthews’ understanding of love. It is with these intensely personal struggles Matthews and Muller began developing their new album.
Careful is set for release on February 1st via Boy Harsher’s own imprint Nude Club Records.
Careful is available for pre-order here
Boy Harsher European live dates:
- 21/02 Hamburg, DE – Turmzimmer
- 22/02 Amsterdam, NL – Melkweg
- 23/02 St. Maló , FR – Route Du Rock #
- 24/02 Bristol, UK – Lanes
- 25/02 Leeds, UK – Wharf Chambers
- 26/02 Manchester, UK – Soup Kitchen
- 27/02 London, UK – Electrowerkz
- 28/02 Lille, FR – L’Aeronef
- 01/03 Nancy, FR – L’Autre Canal
- 02/03 Paris, FR – Badaboum
- 03/03 Lyon, FR – Le Soucre #
- 04/03 Heidelberg, DE – Karlstorbahnhof
- 05/03 Berlin, DE – Berghain
- 06/03 Leipzig, DE – UT Connewitz
- 07/03 Augsburg, DE – Kantine
- 08/03 Cologne, DE – Artheater
- 09/03 Brussels, BE – Rotondes
(with Kontravoid except those marked #)
“Careful” track list:
- Keep Driving
- Face the Fire (YouTube)
- Fate
- LA
- Come Closer
- The Look You Gave (Jerry)
- Tears
- Crush
- Lost
- Careful
