Genevieve Artadi – one half of the jazz-funk project KNOWER – offers a window into her ad-lib creativity and the LA community where it’s been nurtured on Dizzy Strange Summer, released on Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder. She brings her own slant to the DIY scene that she’s grown up in, melding influences from avant-garde electronics, bossa nova, jazz and psychedelia.
An impulsive spirit underwrites every part of the album, something reflected in the energy Genevieve devotes to create the videos to accompany them. It’s an honest, unmediated reflection of the period in which she created the music, supported by a close circle of like-minded musical friends. Reflecting on what drives her to create, she says: “Sometimes I just really get that burning feeling to make something and get it out there.” Above all, this is an album that speaks to that drive: to create something and share it with people.
The album was written in a time of upheaval, something reflected in both the lyrics and the sound of the record. “I was pretty lost… but enjoying feeling lost,” Artadi says. Drawing inspiration from the tumult around her and she relished the opportunity to express herself uninhibited by the shackles of compromise associated with collaboration. Crucially, this often means a silly, playful side being played off against a serious one; but she doesn’t think the former undercuts the latter, seeing the two as vital shared ingredients to what she does. “I don’t feel like I would be giving an honest picture if I didn’t do both,” she says.
Dizzy Strange Summer revels in juxtapositions, unleashing high energy assaults at full tilt before giving way to soft focus melancholia, allowing Genevieve to show off the full spectrum of her vocal prowess.