Boy Harsher get lean and focused on their best album yet

Jae Matthews and Augustus Muller have faced a succession of gravity-shifting events in recent years, stretching from loss to creative block and then the break-up of their own relationship. Clearly the future of Boy Harsher was in doubt and yet, here we are with the duo's first new music since 2022's soundtrack for The Runner. Desolate cinematic vistas, bleached landscapes, the loneliness of the open road: you can taste the dislocation and the desperation. Yet for all the emotional intensity, Get Mean is some seriously compelling and very danceable synth-pop, with some guaranteed darkwave floor-fillers. Boy Harsher have created the best music of their career without sacrificing anything, musically speaking. Instead the songs are stronger, the sonic palette richer and more inviting. The result is a lean and focused album, with no lulls and where no track overstays its welcome. Kicking off with the wide-open soundscape of “Ronny”, there's a roadworn weariness, yes, but the glistening synths march on while Matthews’ perfectly enunciated heartbreak meshes with movie soundtrack drop-ins. Her vocals have a magnetic, sensual quality, without tricks or vocal affectations, giving a sense of ...