- For the debut batch of wax on their Nude Club label, Boy Harsher tweak their calling card song. Since its release on cassette in 2014, ""Pain" has netted around 2.5 million plays on YouTube, a huge number for underground artists. It's easy to hear why fans are obsessed. For nearly seven riveting minutes Jae Matthews' moans—which echo the existential unease of young Nick Cave or Siouxsie Sioux—throw themselves against the song's thick synth pulse like waves upon jagged rock. Unlike many musicians roaming the zones between industrial, darkwave and minimal wave, Boy Harsher don't fetishize the robotic—just the opposite. They revel in nervous humanity, which makes the music sweaty and unpredictable.
Matthews and her bandmate, Augustus Muller, also hand over "Pain" to Luis Vasquez, AKA The Soft Moon. Trading the original's minimalist efficiency for discord, the post-punk-inspired producer builds a hulking slab of monochrome dance-rock. Matthews' voice is now splintered into shards that dart between the left and right channels, while what sounds like live bass anchors the debris with a subterranean throb. The track then detonates with squealing synths and an EBM crunch that swings like a wrecking ball, as Vasquez deftly retains Boy Harsher's anguished vibe while embracing cathartic fun. He sounds like he's having a blast while trying to create an industrial club anthem that's absurdly sinister.
TracklistA Pain (Edit)
B Pain (The Soft Moon Remix)