Let’s start this review with a confession. I like Boy Harsher, but I’m not the mega-fan that so many people I know are. Too many of their songs sound the same to me, to the extent that I frequently have to double-check what I’ve played when I’m DJing, lest I confuse “Country Girl,” “Give Me a Reason” and “Come Closer.” That said, I was very excited to hear “Jeans” when it was released as a single a few months back because it doesn’t sound at all like a Boy Harsher banger. At first it sounded very New Order to me. Now, it reminds me of “I Go Crazy,” the Flesh For Lulu song that’s in Some Kind of Wonderful. I love “Jeans,” but wasn’t quite sure that the club crowds would. In fact, it’s been one of the big hits on the dance floor this summer. Thanks to “Jeans,” there were a few nights where I didn’t have to play “Pain.” That’s a relief.
Get Mean, which came out on Friday, is a pivotal album for Boy Harsher’s Jae Matthews and Augustus Miller. It’s the first album they’ve made together since the two split up as a couple and that experience does factor into the making of the album and the songs themselves. At the same time, Get Mean is the Boy Harsher album with the most potential to be a commercial hit. It was released on Atlantic, a major label, and the band is almost immediately launching into a North American tour. Some of those dates, including the October 16 show at the Hollywood Palladium, are already sold out. Plus, they’re supporting Turnstile in Santa Ana. On a surface level, it does look like Boy Harsher moving away from the darkwave crowd, which, frankly, everyone needs to do at some point, even if it’s just for bit.
Really, the only song in this collection that retains the old Boy Harsher vibe is “Hard Beat,” which was previously released as a single. But, even then, “Hard Beat” sounds bigger, more dramatic, than the duo’s club hits.
Elsewhere, Boy Harsher works out this unusual hybrid that’s part pre-First, Last and Always Sisters of Mercy and part Italo disco and hiNRG. You’ll get a song like “Break Me” that’s very much in the vein of “Alice” and “Temple of Love” and then “Faulty,” one of the album’s standouts, that wouldn’t sound out of place next to a Patrick Cowley or Bobby Orlando production.
There are a lot of potential bangers on Get Mean. At the same time, some of the album’s best songs might be overlooked. I suspect that will be the case for “Pray 4 Me,” which comes in near the album’s conclusion. Don’t snooze through it, though, because that song is pure deep cut gold with its unexpected Balearic vibe.
Overall, Get Mean is the closest Boy Harsher has come to making a pop album and that could be really off-putting for longtime fans. But, like I said, I’ve never been precious about the band, so I’m not going to immediately side-eye an album that clearly has more commercial aspirations. Honestly, I love hearing them step into new musical territory and they do that well throughout Get Mean.
Get Mean by Boy Harsher is out now.
Liz O. is an L.A.-based writer and DJ. Follow on Instagram or sign up for the weekly, Beatique newsletter for updates on new stories and gigs.
Listen to the September, 2026 edition of Beatique, which also features music from Olivia Rodrigo, ear, Purity Ring, Brigette Calls Me Baby, Slayyyter and more.
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