On Dysphoria, the new release from Portland, OR, and Atlanta, GA-based duo boredom & Romance, glitched tones, washes of static, and programmed loops coalesce into a sonic exploration of the murky, subterranean world of one man’s struggles with the ghosts of the past – and premonitions of the future. Rooted in the tension between beauty and abrasion, slowly evolving layers of sound build in waves as dense layers of distortion, samples, and noise stack upon themselves. Brooding, eerie, and electro-industrial, where scattered shards of synth-pop and new wave influence sparkle just below the surface, Dysphoria is a record where even the quieter moments are permeated with a nervous energy.

boredom & Romance is Jeremy Wilkins (Vocals, Guitars, Synthesizers, & Programming) and Alec Yeager (Drums, Programming, & Synthesizers), both formerly of underwater and We Are Parasols. While Wilkins had been primarily focused on his work with We Are Parasols and Hawks Do Not Share, boredom & Romance was always there, in the background. “I initially looked at bdRm as a way to make music I wouldn’t make in my bands, like solo piano or ambient tracks,” explains Wilkins. “Then, for a long period, it became a way to collaborate with a wide array of different musicians, mostly good friends. At a certain point, before the last EP, Are You Alive?, Alec officially became the other half of the project.”

Indeed, work began on Dysphoria and the We Are Parasols record Body Horror concurrently; they were initially conceptualized as companion pieces. As things evolved, Body Horror started to take the bulk of their available time, and it wasn’t until We Are Parasols went on hiatus in the summer of 2024 that the duo had time to focus fully on Dysphoria.

While the duo was occasionally able to work together in the same space, the bulk of the record was written via files shared online. Wilkins explains that “a lot of the initial ideas for songs came from me experimenting with various synthesizers, just trying to make new sounds. Much of the time, I was trying to get machines or software to do things they weren’t really meant to do. Tracks began as a soundscape or a bunch of glitches before we shaped them into song.” After the initial ideas were generated, they were passed back and forth, arrangements constantly edited and re-edited to try to form a song structure, adding synth parts and eventually guitars, sometimes bass. Programmed drums and sampled noise were added with a deft hand.

Recorded and mixed at Wilkins’ studio in Portland, the record features contributions from Jack O'Hara Harris (The Witness, Bloody Knives) on noise guitar for track 1, and GL3 (Hawks Do Not Share) provides backing vocals on track 2. Aside from that, everything is written, produced, and performed by Wilkins and Yeager. Wilkins mixed the record, and Adam Gonsalves at Telegraph handled the mastering. 

Thematically, the record wears its heart on its sleeve. In fact, Wilkins wasn’t able to write the songs he wanted to until “a good bit of therapy that helped me not actively feel the dysphoria daily. As We Are Parasols was ending, I realized I still had lyric ideas and no one to write them except myself. Once I started, the lyrics poured out. All the songs were already titled before lyrics and vocals were added. I already knew what all the songs were about, and giving them a voice made them feel more concrete and less abstract or ethereal.”

So, a record that echoes with the pervasive unease that lingers around every corner of contemporary reality yet also stands as a powerful reminder that we are together in our shared discontent. “I have often felt very alone even when surrounded by people. Actually, usually more so when surrounded by people,” explains Wilkins. “It’s strange, but I tend to feel more connected and empathetic towards human beings in the abstract rather than the concrete, real people immediately in my life. Or I did. Therapy and recent life changes have really helped me overcome that. And I guess that’s the point of this record. To remind everyone that you might feel all these horrible things that I feel, and think the horrible things that I’ve thought, and still get better and find happiness.”