Augustus Muller

Today, Augustus Muller (aka Gus of Boy Harsher) presents “Perverse Technology,” the latest single from Cellulosed Bodies (Original Score) — a new album featuring two scores, Crash and Automaton — out September 1st via Nude Club Records. Four Chambers is the project of experimental pornographer Vex Ashley, a cultural phenom known for her filmmaking and photography. Both scores serve as accompaniments to films released by Ashley last year through Four Chambers.

Crash and Automation 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. Taken from Crash,  new single “Perverse Technology” immerses the listener in a dark and sensual atmosphere with skittering beats and droning synths.

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 echoes and playful plucky highlights. “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 came from the isolation brought upon the pandemic, which turned many into digital fiends. Ashley explores the fixation of technological intimacy with a sci-fi tinged film. Unlike Crash, Muller uses less industrial sounds in Automaton, instead favoring 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.