AUGUSTUS MULLER

Boy Harsher musician announces ‘Cellulosed Bodies (Original Score)’
Two scores to films released by experimental pornographer Four Chambers
Out September 1st (CD/LP) via Nude Club

Augustus Muller (aka Gus of Boy Harsher) teams up again with Four Chambers to release ‘Cellulosed Bodies’, which features two scores, ‘Crash’ and ‘Automaton’, through imprint Nude Club Records on September 1st. Along with the announcement, now he shares a track from each score – the driving “Fur and Metal” and the looming, suspense-filled “Stretching / Invading”.

https://augustusmuller.lnk.to/CellulosedBodiesYD

“Fur And Metal” entices the listener with the progressive yet stirring percussive beat. Augustus delivers a truly intoxicating composition that strikes some sensuous direction to the already alluring ambience. The synth notes grow around the crucial beat, expanding in the complex atmosphere. The notes sweep into focus and are joined by a few deeper tones that add this fierce touch to the lasting soundscape.

“Stretching/ Inading” provides this darker, shrewd landscape of abrasive tones and this sharp intensity that overrides the entire creation. It pulls you in, keeping you fixated on this brutal journey. Augustus evokes emotion through tonal choices and consuming structure, and to do this and still provide something so innovative is such a triumph.

Boy Harsher are currently on tour in Europe and at the Leeds show will be selling a limited edition (100 copies) LP of the soundtrack, signed by Gus and Four Chambers’ Vex Ashley, available only at this show. There will also be a visual installation by Four Chambers at the Leeds show. Details on all forthcoming tour dates below.

Four Chambers is the self-described “project” of experimental pornographer Vex Ashley, filmmaker, photographer, and cultural phenom. Both scores serve as accompaniments to films released by Ashley last year through Four Chambers.

‘Crash’ and ‘Automaton’ demonstrate Muller’s mastery of stark, industrial soundscapes. Yet, Muller takes the compositions further – introducing club elements such as ‘nu disco’ tendencies and vocal samples. Thus, he embraces the theme of body meets machine as explored in the visual content of the films.

‘Crash’ is an homage to David Cronenberg’s 1996 film of the same name. Both Ashley and Cronenberg explore the eroticism of car accidents, a fetish that feels both mechanical and gory. This violent juxtaposition is Muller’s ultimate inspiration. Featured in ‘Crash’, “Body and Machine” is a pulsing, synth anthem, exhibiting both synthetic echos and playful plucky highlights. “Perverse Technology” is a groovy and discordant number, where “Sharing a Smoke” has a somber austerity, you can almost see the hands pass across leather seats, shattered glass against sweaty bodies, and open-mouth kisses in the headlights.

‘Automaton’ experiments came from the isolation brought upon the pandemic, which turned many into digital fiends. Ashley explores the fixation of technological intimacy, with ‘Automaton’, a sci-fi feeling porn that features a severe computer entity and trapped prey, succumbing to pleasure. Unlike, ‘Crash’, Muller uses less “industrial” sounds in ‘Automaton’, instead favouring synthetic instrumentation.“Who is in Control” and “Observation” are chilling examples of this – compositions that feature oblique strings and organ like synthesis. Songs such as “Subdue Yourself”, featuring vocal samples of dominatrix Miss Marilyn, are deftly human, yet “speak” from the perspective of the machine.

Ultimately, both sides of ‘Cellulosed Bodies’ play with the mercurial erotic relationship between body and machine. A soundscape that is both haunting and humble, Muller’s follow-up with Four Chambers features some of his best score work.

“You belong to the machine, you are nothing, you are use, you are there to be taken…”

Boy Harsher live dates:

July 20: Cluj Napoca, RO – Electric Castle Festival
July 21: Leeds, UK – Project House %
July 22: Stuttgart, DE – About Pop Festival
August 3: Chula Vista, CA – North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre #
August 5: Irvine, CA – FivePoint Amphitheatre #
% w/ THE KVB
# w/ Danny Elfman

https://afourchamberedheart.com/
https://www.nudeclubrecords.com/