New York has a way of leaving fingerprints on the music made within it. For THROES NYC, that influence runs deeper than a reference to a particular era or sound. It lives in the restless energy of the city, the intimacy of late-night journeys, the excitement of discovering a band before everyone else knows their name, and the feeling of being surrounded by noise while finding one small moment that makes everything else disappear.
That spirit runs through The Wires Out, an EP shaped by romantic infatuation, uncertainty, tenderness and the complicated intensity of falling for someone. What began as a single song eventually became two distinct pieces, allowing “Something Chemical” and “Always, Baby” to explore different sides of the same emotional experience. One feels unsettled and overwhelmed by something new, while the other finds a deeper, more lived-in kind of affection.
At the heart of THROES NYC are Michael Bozzo and Courtney Leo, two artists whose creative relationship stretches back to childhood and growing up in the same house. That history has created an unusual musical shorthand between them. Courtney can send Michael an a cappella melody and he can instinctively build around it, translating an emotion she may have struggled to articulate into sound. With little room for ego, their process becomes something closer to musical stream of consciousness.
Their sound carries the warmth of analog textures alongside electronic production, pulling from 90s and early 2000s influences without becoming trapped in nostalgia. Deftones, Britpop, 90s rap, SWV, Hall & Oates and The War on Drugs can all exist somewhere within their creative universe, alongside the unmistakable atmosphere of New York itself. The result is music that feels both familiar and difficult to categorize, intimate yet capable of sudden expansion.
In this conversation, THROES NYC explore the shared history behind their chemistry, the New York experiences that shaped their understanding of music, and the emotional worlds behind The Wires Out. They discuss why vulnerability does not always require a perfect vocal performance, how electronic and organic sounds can coexist like a city train carrying a busker’s melody through the noise, and why their creative philosophy ultimately comes down to one simple idea: follow the vibe and let the song decide where it wants to go.
The Wires Out moves between dark alt-pop, trip-hop, electronic textures, romance, tension, and late-night nostalgia. What emotional or creative thread connects these seemingly different moods across the EP?
Both songs are connected by romantic love and infatuation. They were both one song originally, and we pulled them apart to be two different ones. So musically, there may be some similarities, but emotionally they’re both two sides of the same coin. On one hand there’s feeling it all and not being able to do anything about it. Just kinda stuck in this world of everything wonderful and new, but terrifying and unknown at the same time. Always, Baby is that deeper, more lived in affection. Not so unsettled.
Both of you grew up together and have been making music since childhood. How has that shared history shaped the chemistry between Michael Bozzo and Courtney Leo, and are there creative instincts you have developed together that would be difficult to recreate with anyone else?
We just go with what the other is thinking. Michael is really good at reading what I want a song to feel like. I’ll send him a song that’s totally a cappella and he will send me back some music he wrote around my melody that embodies everything I was feeling at the time I sang it. I think it really comes from growing up in the same house and knowing each other so well that it’s almost like we have an effortless, stream of consciousness type of association where no ego is involved. I don’t think I could do this sort of thing with another person so easily, no.
You spent your teenage years at legendary New York venues including CBGB’s, Roseland Ballroom, and Irving Plaza. What did experiencing that era of New York music firsthand teach you about what makes a song, performance, or artist feel genuinely compelling?
That raw excitement of seeing a band you love for the first time and knowing the next time you see them it’ll definitely be in an arena or a place where they won’t be walking around just hanging out after their show. It’s that first time feeling we try to make in our music. The feeling of having a ticket in your hand and taking the train to go out for the night knowing you’d feel different in a such a good way afterwards. The feeling of knowing the graffiti on the walls of the venue or the best place to stand in the club to hear the music because you’ve been there so much it feels like a second home. I think we were always chasing that feeling when we were younger, and now we chase it in our music.
The ’90s and early 2000s are deeply embedded in THROES NYC’s identity, but The Wires Out does not sound like an attempt to simply recreate that period. How do you take the spirit of that era and translate it into something that feels contemporary?
Growing up we listened to music non-stop and so much of what we love comes from so many eras and different places. We love so much of the same stuff, but have totally different influences. I love deftones and britpop, and then I’ll listen to 90s rap all day. There’s no real line in the sand for what inspires us. I might have a melody in mind influenced by SWV or something, and then Michael will come up with music for it that sounds like War On Drugs, or Hall and Oates or something. It’s just really throwing everything into the pot, but it comes together so nicely.
Analog warmth and electronic production coexist throughout your music. What does the combination of organic texture and electronic sound allow you to express that either approach alone could not?
We wouldn’t have needed to make up a genre for our music if it weren’t for the blending of those two elements. I think it allows us to be seen the way we want to. I definitely feel the music more when some electronic element is present, but need that juxtaposition. Like taking the train. You have the clicking of trains and humming of the city set to a background of, maybe, a busker playing a lovely little song on their acoustic guitar in the middle of it all. That is what we want the music to feel like- a moment of presence in the midst of the chaos.
Courtney’s emotionally charged vocals sit against music that can feel both intimate and explosive. How do you approach the relationship between the vocal performance and the production when you want a song to feel vulnerable without losing its intensity?
I try not to oversell it. You hear a Pavement song and Stephen Malkmus is so beautifully off-key and it’s perfect. I love that sort of sound. It makes me feel very much at home. I like to keep it even and let the words speak for themselves, because they do get pretty dark. Michael likes to put effects on my voice to convey the feeling, too. He’s very good at that sort of thing.
“Something Chemical” and “Always, Baby” occupy different emotional spaces within the EP. What do these two songs reveal about the range of THROES NYC that listeners might not understand from hearing just one of them?
I think each of these songs stands well on its own. One is totally raw and the other is quite calm and much kinder. But I think both songs do express our ability to blend genres and create a nice little freestanding sonic world for a minute or two.
Your music is described as being driven entirely by vibe, with each track allowed to evolve rather than conform to a fixed genre. When you are creating, how do you recognize that a particular atmosphere is worth following even if you do not yet know where the song is going?
It really is vibe! If there is something to be said or heard, we will just go with it. Sometimes the songs will transform into pop music, or get experimental, like ‘Howl’ does. It’ll just feel right, and we both know it. I think we both aren’t scared to make songs that sound like this, that, or the other. We just let ourselves sink into whatever the song wants. Everything happens for a reason and that’s ok.
There is a strong sense of New York throughout THROES NYC, even when the music moves into darker, more cinematic territory. If the city itself were a character in The Wires Out, what role would it play in the story you are telling?
Always the coolest catalyst.
You have been creating music together since childhood, but THROES NYC continues to evolve rather than settle into one sound. After everything you have absorbed from New York’s musical history, what part of the THROES NYC story are you most excited to write next?
The next song. It’s always about the next song. Every time we complete one, it is our new obsession. Seriously though, I can’t think that far ahead. Maybe the chapter where we put out an entire album!
