Boy Harsher talk Get Mean and a band without the romance

Boy Harsher's Jae Matthews and Augustus Muller talk about their new album Get Mean in a Bandcamp Daily Big Ups feature published October 13, 2026. The record follows Careful in 2019 and the soundtrack to their horror short The Runner in 2022.

The album arrives after the end of the pair's romantic relationship, and Matthews says that split is built into its premise. "Get Mean, to me, means operating Boy Harsher under a new philosophy, one that no longer is anchored in a romantic relationship, but now instead as a musical entity," she says. Most of the songs, she adds, are "grappling with heartbreak and rejection."

Matthews points to the track "Hard Beat" and its car crash imagery as especially representative. "The metaphor of the car accident is one that is quite sincere, and it comes up often," she says. Muller puts the partnership plainly: "Any band or creative relationship is sort of a miracle. You meet someone who understands what you're trying to do and makes it better. It's one in a million."