Aside from a Perfume Genius remix released earlier this year, not much has been heard of from synth duo Boy Harsher lately. But today they’ve announced their first big project since 2019’s Careful: On January 21 they’ll release the original soundtrack for The Runner, a short horror film that the Northampton-based musicians wrote and directed. They’ve shared the first single “Tower,” along with the film’s trailer.
“Tower” has a suspenseful and unnerving build. Jae Matthews’ voice slinks through the air like wafting cigarette smoke. Vague mentions of distrust and ownership circle around echoing, rubbery synths. “Don’t you come around here / Don’t you come around, dear,” Matthews warns after she releases several aching screams. “I wanna be,” she repeats a few times before declaring: “Just let me be free.” “Tower” relies on a tension of mystery. There’s no notion of what’s trapping Boy Harsher, but the unseen force makes for a great horror narrative.
“We wrote ‘Tower’ several years ago and although it’s evolved over the years, its initial intent remains the same,” Matthews said of the single. “That feeling of being enveloped, suffocated, entrapped in a relationship, which in turn manifests into reckless attack. What you love the most can make you into a monster. And that’s what this song is about, being a paralyzed fiend.”
Watch the lyric video for “Tower” and the trailer for The Runner below.
