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Sep 01, 2021 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Holly Whitaker

Brighton-based outfit ĠENN shared their debut EP Liminal earlier this year, introducing the world to their stridently political and powerfully personal genre-blending style. It proved to be a chaotic ride, taking cues from ‘90s alt rock and post punk and filtering them through experimental and psychedelic textures, reportedly influenced by bands like Metronomy, LCD Soundsystem, Captain Beefheart, and Warpaint. The band released “Catalyst,” one of the record’s highlights, as a single last week and now the band is back with an accompanying video, premiering with Under the Radar.

“Catalyst” initially reads as a political punk polemic, complete with tightly wound guitar riffs, a propulsive rhythm section, and chanted lyrics一“We’re awake now / Stay awake now.” But,m though the band cries for revolution, the change they’re calling for is personal as much as political. Vocalist Leona Farrugia says of the track, “Lyrically the track could be interpreted as a cry for collective change, but I had, in fact, began writing from my own perspective, realising the ‘revolution’ one can make within their own approach to everyday life; changing the rhythm of my thoughts to achieve freedom from unhealthy traditions.”

The accompanying visual follows a different sort of journey, tracking a rubber ball from an initial throw, all the way to the ocean. As Farrugia explains “it all came from a flippant moment observed from a window during rehearsal: a basketball thrown from body to body as we played through the song. The image of the ball synchronised so perfectly in the moment that it almost felt like the image moved in slow motion, and I wanted to transfer these bursts of energy into cinematic transition. Cinema offers you the ability to disobey real time and space, and I’ve always taken great influence from experimental filmmakers such as Varda, Godard and Menken.

I wanted to use the ball as a visual metaphor, the ball transitioning through its irrepressible journey, stopping and starting from one frame to the next. It continues regardless of the situations and obstacles it encounters. In this sense, the images become a representation of this journey of personal rediscovery.”

Check out the song and video below, out now via Everything Sucks Music.