Anytime I’m asked to specify my favourite Adelaide band, The Genevieves is a name that unfailingly surfaces during my ensuing deliberation. Earlier this year, I sat down with them to discuss musical backgrounds, noise rock, and the two singles they released in October 2023: ‘Nothing Happened’ and ‘Words’. While the recordings were somewhat muddy and imbalanced, they illustrated the band’s exciting contribution to noise rock, displaying intense experimentalism and the courage to combine lyrics of emotional depth with dissonant auditory textures. I continue to listen to this double-release, and have been looking forward to new music from The Genevieves since they hinted to the production of an EP during our interview. 

Today, that itch has finally been scratched, as they’ve released their newest single, ‘Adore You’ - one of the earliest tracks they composed and a standout from their live sets for its softer quality in contrast to other songs. In this sub-four-minute listen, a diverse cocktail of sonic textures and influences present themselves to create a follow-up release that further encapsulates The Genevieves’ distinct sound. 

‘Adore You’ is introduced by the repetitive groove of the band’s rhythm section, including a digital drum configuration by percussionist James Nisbet, who strove to build a CAN-adjacent texture that felt “robotic and inhuman”. Enveloping the rhythm is an ethereal synthesiser drone that oscillates and fades softly as the opening verse is performed by guitarist Baily Taylerson, who takes the reigns as lead-vocalist. The guitar arrangements possess a wonderfully dreamy atmosphere, drawing influence from shoegaze groups such as Slowdive and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart to create swirling soundscapes that flood the mix with reverb. Bassist Lara Patzel provides accompanying vocals during the choruses, harmonising with Baily to build on the depth of his emotionally wounded lyrics: 

Everything I did / I did it for you / And even though you left / I still adore you. 

The climax of ‘Adore You’ arrives in the final two minutes, when a drum fill similar to that from Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ introduces a wave of distorted guitars and digitally-delayed lead patterns, the latter played by guitarist Finn Larcombe. After a brief instrumental interlude, the song’s final minute is saturated in a lush, reverb-packed wall of sound reminiscent of Slowdive’s ‘Souvlaki Space Station’ as the lyric I Still Adore You is reiterated until the song’s closing seconds. 

“When we first played the song the form was quite different. There was a chorus much earlier on, and the original didn’t have the instrumental section. Through playing it more we adjusted to make it work better live and stay captivating.” 

Production wise, ‘Adore You’ is certainly an improvement upon the self-mastered tracks they released last October. Whilst I admire their DIY ethos, the mastering work executed by James Brown (Wizard Tone) for this new project brings appreciated clarity to the highs, warmth to the mids, and punch to the lows, balancing the loud and soft sections to enhance the aggressive impact of the distorted guitars. I’m also struck by the decision to isolate the drums and overdub the cymbals, an approach popularised by Martin Hannett’s production techniques on Joy Division’s ‘Unknown Pleasures’. This fashions a feeling of physical distance, separating the cymbals and crashes from the rest of the kit and allowing James to dissolve expectations with subtle, spaced-out cymbal hits when initiating choruses or heavier progressions. 

Once again, I find myself thoroughly impressed by the output of The Genevieves, and appreciate their efforts to strengthen the quality of their recordings. I look forward to their upcoming EP scheduled for release in early 2025.