Geneva Jacuzzi is like if Nina Hagen grew up in a doomsday cult. (And Jacuzzi did, in fact, grow up in a doomsday cult.) In a 2020 interview with Genius List, the Los Angeles-based artist explained her love of jacuzzis, describing them as “these tiny, weird, warm whirlpools of bacteria, chemicals, pleasure, and relaxation.” She doesn’t go in them often, but she was baptized in one. They’re neat!
Jacuzzi’s willingness to be playfully off-kilter and fun distinguishes her from other darkwave artists. My favorite record in her catalog is the 2008 self-release Rat Killer, because her sound is at its most uncomfortable. She relies on sparse synthesizers, Italo-disco flourishes, lo-fi vocals, and Dada-like lyrics to produce songs with names such as “We Are Furniture” and “Sal’s Tropical Depression.” Rat Killer was largely disseminated via Myspace and similar platforms, making it a relic of an earlier Internet as much as a testament to her talent for attracting a cultlike following by being unabashedly dark and weird.
Since then, Jacuzzi’s recording style has grown poppier and more polished, but she’s funneled the raw, maniacal energy of her debut album into her stage show. These days, she’s spoken about as someone you see, not someone you hear—she’s a real performer’s musician, like a goth Peaches sans the heavy gender themes. Instead, Jacuzzi uses her elaborate costumes and props to draw people into a romantic, absurdist void, where she sings about things like “tying a noose around the love caboose” (on 2010’s “Love Caboose”) while immersed in tinsel, pyramids, tentacles, and other elements that evoke a pre-CGI Tim Burton aesthetic. At two-day Chicago coldwave and dance festival Sanctum, Jacuzzi shares the bill with comrades from her local scene, including synth-pop singer Madeline Goldstein, electro-industrial artist Debby Friday, and minimalist EBM duo Spike Hellis, all of whom have a similar penchant for eye-catching live shows. Jacuzzi appears just before Oakland outfit the Soft Moon close the festival, but as the most seasoned of her Hollywood-inspired peers, she’s likely to put on a performance just as worthy of the headlining slot.
Geneva Jacuzzi This show closes the Sanctum Dark Music Festival, which begins with a preparty Thu 10/26 and continues Fri 10/27 and tonight. The Soft Moon headline; Geneva Jacuzzi, Pelada, Spike Hellis, SDH, and Conjunto Primitivo open. Sat 10/28, 6 PM, Thalia Hall, 1807 S. Allport, $68, $120 two-day pass, $155 three-day pass. 17+