Boy Deluxe. Noise pop. Alternative. Weird haircuts. Black clothes. Back with a new video/single and a new band name (previously Ever So Android) . The LA noise pop duo is putting out ‘So Slow’ tomorrow.

 

Hope S, a pastor’s daughter, raised in the shadow of dogma and divorce, and True Murra, a Philadelphia-born multi-instrumentalist and former heroin addict, started their first project, Ever So Android in Seattle. “What started out as curiosity and a surprising friendship lead to an intense connection,” said Murra. “Slowly we became obsessed with writing music together. The only intimacy was found in creating, and so we poured ourselves into music.”

After five years of sell out shows at venues like The Crocodile and The Tractor Tavern, with regular airplay on KEXP, Hope and True turned their focus to Los Angeles, where they relocated in 2017. After years of experimentation and writing songs on the side of ESA, the pair decided to change their name, finally admitting they had grown into something else. Rechristened Boy Deluxe in 2020, the pair set about recording a new crop of songs that fully captured their creative evolution, including recent singles, ‘Bait’, ‘Beginning of the End’, and ‘Creeps’.

Most importantly, the name change signified a change in approach. “Ever So Android was what we thought we should be,” Hope S said. “Boy Deluxe is exactly who we are. Trying to ‘do the right things’ led to confusion and a loss of identity. The turning point came when we accepted that writing fulfilling music came alongside self-understanding. The more we learned about ourselves and quit caring what everybody thought, the more we loved our art.”

Hope S and True Murra as Boy Deluxe have harnessed a clear voice of their own. Hope’s unique vocals are adorned by Murra’s moody electronic machinations, creating tension and emotional release. Living in Los Angeles, with a steadily increasing audience, Boy Deluxe have found themselves in their sound.

 “‘So Slow’ was written early 2019 in our apartment on Sunset while we were still Ever So Android. I think True had actually written the music to this song and we sat on it for a while, unsure how to finish it. There was a big difference between this track and what we had traditionally written in ESA and to be honest, it paved the way for what became Boy Deluxe. We called up a couple of our friends to give us feedback on what we had and ended up digging in really deep into the vocals. Changed the delivery completely, added a thousand harmonies and all the sudden we felt like we had something real. Once it was written, we sent it over to True’s long time friend and ex bandmate Gabe Pressman in New York to mix it and then sat on the song a little longer. Finally figured out we wanted John Geenham (Death Grips, Billie Eilish, Ice Cube) to master it and finished the song in the end of February 2020. With the final product done, we decided to release it under the new project and give the song our full attention.”

 

 

Just two weeks after Boris delivered their triumphant new album NO, the group has surfaced once again with a music video for the album’s crushing single ‘-鏡 -Zerkalo-’.  The dystopian and panoramic visuals were assembled by producer Yoshiki Shimahara, who was also responsible for CG works in the movie Shin Godzilla, and the footage aptly captures the tone and feeling of the song itself. 

Boris self-released NO on July 3 via Bandcamp and released the statement below regarding the album.

“International borders are ‘closed’ now.

All kinds of anxieties, fear, sadness, anger, and hatred have arisen to drive the world apart.

Everyone is in a process of trial and error, doing what they can to live.

The critical state of the world has placed culture, art, and other means of expressing ourselves into a dilemma as well.

We decided to start managing our band ourselves again a few years ago, so we even more keenly aware of the current situation.

It was our actions up to this point and our methodology, various cultural influences, as well the connections and support we received from people around the world that led us to create this latest album.

Culture is lore that is not bound by blood, in other words ‘Non Blood Lore.’

We have put all of our influences and connections into this album so that they may be passed on circulated.

That is our current stance now as Boris, our role and mode of action.

The title of this album is NO.

People have a system whereby they unconsciously grow accustomed to things and adapt to them.

But, this same system is also cursed in the way it allows inconvenient or troubling things to be disregarded as if they were never there to begin with and goes by other names such as ‘resignation,’ ‘subordination,’ and ‘forgetfulness.’

We renounce this system.

‘Is this something I felt on my own? Is this idea something I came up with on my own? Is this something I chose to act upon myself?’

Everything begins with questioning and denying oneself.

That is the proper stance for people to adopt.

 

Music and culture possess incredible power.

The anger and discontent we had no outlet for in our youth shone through in our music, helping us to channel negative energy channeled towards creative ends and leading us to new means of expression and artistry.

We hope this latest album can be a mirror that gathers and reflects people’s negative energy at a different angle, one that is positive.

That is the power and potential of the dark, extreme, and brutal noise music that we have experienced up to this point.

Today’s society is littered with words that may or may not be true, making it easy to want to just not listen to what anyone has to say.

But, that’s all the more reason why we hope that you will at least open your ears to these songs sung in the language of another land.

These shouts that have no proper meaning as words will help release the raw, unshaped emotions within you.

This is ‘extreme healing music.’

 

International borders are ‘closed’ now.

When we’re able to travel again, it will be proof that the world has moved forward.

We pray for the day when we can share the same time and place again.

 

Boris”

NO track listing:

1. Genesis

2. Anti-Gone

3. Non Blood Lore

4. Temple of Hatred

5. 鏡 -Zerkalo-

6. HxCxHxC -Parforation Line-

7. キキノウエ -Kiki no Ue-

8. Lust

9. Fundamental Error

10. Loveless

11. Interlude