Geneva Jacuzzi is a Los Angeles-based multimedia artist, whose immersive and unhinged performances are considered legendary: they often involve a psychotropic gallery of masks, costumes, confrontation and massive art installations. Her recorded music frequently features catchy hooks and cryptic moods dusted in 4-track grit.
Earlier this year, the bedroom darkwave stalwart., multimedia artist and performer signed to Dais Records, who will be releasing her third full-length album Triple Fire on August 23, 2024. The album will feature the previously released “Dry,” a brooding and swaying bit of 80s retro-futuristic synth pop anchored around layers of glistening analog synth arpeggios and skittering beats paired with catchy, razor sharp hooks. Jacuzzi’s seemingly detached vocal singing lyrics about disconnection and uncertainty ethereally float over the dreamy arrangement and production.
“I took a little break from writing music and when I sat down at home to record, ‘Dry’ was the first song to burst out,” Jacuzzi recalls. “The music came together so instantly it’s as if it had been waiting and perfecting itself for years in the ether. The chorus lyrics came that same week after I went on a date with Mike Judge and he never called me back (haha). I wasn’t upset or anything, but I had never been ghosted before and couldn’t help but equate modern love to an appliance you buy on the home shopping network.”
“Scene Ballerina” Triple Fire‘s third and latest single continues a run of remarkably period specific, 80s inspired synth pop, with the song featuring glistening and arpeggiated synths, tweeter and woofer rattling 808s and catchy hooks serving as a lush yet dance floor friendly bed for Jacuzzi’s expressive vocal. Sonically seeming to nod at a synthesis of Jane Child, I Feel For You-era Chaka Khan and Larry Levan house, “Scene Ballerina” describes a very specific, attention craving personality that many of us have come across at some point or another.
“We all know that person: The Scene Ballerina. Stirring up a whirlpool of drama. Leaping to the center of the spotlight, spinning lies, twisting stories. All for attention,” Jacuzzi shares. “A tragic character. I can name a few ;)”
Directed by Thalia Mavros, the gorgeously shot accompanying video for “Scene Ballerina” features the Los Angeles-based artist as a desperate and delusional attention craving sort, who makes futile attempts to gain the attention and admiration at a party surrounded by people, who can’t stand her. We see the folks in her cohort rolling their eyes in disdain whenever they get a free moment — or looking at her as though she’s the most ridiculous person they’ve ever met.
“The music video for Geneva’s latest single is an homage to Ken Russell’s film Women in Love, a nod to our mutual obsession with his visionary filmmaking. Geneva, with her incredible sense of humor, embraced the role of The Scene Ballerina and her ability to laugh at herself brought such a playful spirit to the project,” Thalia Mavros says. “This video also captures the raw essence of LA, highlighting the stark economic and class divides that shape this city. It’s partly a tribute to the underground scene and the people who fuel it creatively (which is a recurring theme in Geneva’s latest videos), while also taking a jab at our celebrity and influencer-obsessed culture.”
Jacuzzi has two upcoming shows on the books:
August 31, 2024: Los Angeles, Lodge Room
September 18, 2024: Brooklyn, NY, Elsewhere
Discover more from The Joy of Violent Movement
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.