Los Angeles cult icon known for pulsing synth-pop and elaborate live performance art visuals, Mexican Summer artist Geneva Jacuzzi’s colorful planet is pulled momentarily to earth with the electrifying new single “Nagual,” alongside a video directed by and starring actress Paz de la Huerta. Jacuzzi’s story of a committed Jehovah’s Witness childhood, an adulthood turned towards synthwave death-disco, income as a Hollywood make-up artist, and a stint in rehab, is all set to a hard-wired, high-voltage soundtrack. A term derived from ancient Mesoamerican religions for the belief in someone who has the ability to shapeshift into animal form, the resulting new “Nagual” song & video showcases the tonal animal within with a pulsing, electronic drive and Simon’s own writing and production contributions. This is the latest contribution from Meditations on Crime, the heavy-hitting collaborative album and art book set to release on September 23.

Simon reflects on the creative process, saying: “I came up with the riff on the Wurlitzer and overdubbed it onto a Rhythm King drum machine. It seemed kind of tough and I liked it. Geneva wrote the melody and we came up with the lyrics together. A Nagual is a folkloric term that’s sometimes associated with the debunked mystical writer Carlos Castaneda, and I liked the idea of incorporating this into the character that Geneva inhabits with this sleazy Krautrock backing track. Ariel Pink was in the studio and put down a low harmony on the chorus, but when I muted Geneva, it made for a very unusual sounding melody, so I decided to keep it like that.”

The multimedia project includes a Harper Simon produced & co-written album of musical collaborations with a sweeping range of contributors including Julia Holter, Cole Alexander of Black Lips, Jennifer Herrema of Royal Trux + Sun Ra Arkestra. Renowned for creating classic Black Flag and Sonic Youth album covers, the project also features American artist Raymond Pettibon, both within the folds of the book release but also in the original portrait of John Dillinger, specially commissioned to adorn the first Meditations on Crime album cover. 

Photo Courtesy: Shervin Lainez