Boy Harsher, Careful

[Nude Club, February 1]

Boy Harsher finds warmth in the cold and calm in the chaos. On Careful, the duo’s sophomore album, Augustus Muller’s synths and drum machines smack hard and dissipate foggily, while vocalist Jae Matthews’ Gothic, breathy mutters defy the music’s hard edges with tenderness. Combined, the duo’s talents result in 10 propulsive yet restrained darkwave tracks. Dancing in place—but no farther—to “LA” is inevitable thanks to the song’s austere, oscillating beat, over which Matthews whispers darkly sensual lines like “I want you” alongside “I will hurt you.” On “Face The Fire,” the album’s ultimate meeting of groove and listlessness, Matthews’ passive murmuring pulls seduction from Muller’s cloudy, dreadful pounding. Every ounce of bleakness on Careful accompanies an ounce of affection, every ounce of energy equal lethargy, and it’s a delicate balance that Boy Harsher executes, as the album title suggests, with great care. [Max Freedman]

Swervedriver, Future Ruins

[Dangerbird, January 25]

Honestly, it’s a little strange this Swervedriver album didn’t already exist. The psychedelic shoegaze-meets-distorted-soul sound, the melancholic ruminations on the darker side of life wedded to imagery of distant cities and open roads, the fuzzed-out feeling of a world circling the drain—Future Ruins is the Beat-poet soul of the band writ large in the back half of its career. Following up 2015’s reunion record, I Wasn’t Born To Lose You, Future again finds Swervedriver in contemplative, midtempo mode, foregoing the urgency and immediacy of its earlier work in favor of the ambling, expansive tenor of a more mature and steady collection of songs. Tracks like “The Lonely Crowd Fades In The Air” and “Drone Lover” deliver the signature stomp and airy vocals, while meditative numbers like “Everybody’s Going Somewhere & No-One’s Going Anywhere” are among the group’s bleakest in its career. There aren’t many standout moments, but it’s consistently good, through and through, a reliably strong record from a band that, more than most, still sounds like no one but itself. [Alex McLevy]

 
Join the discussion...