Genevieve Artadi's GVA!!!!! is a fifteen-song blast of bright, hyperactive pop that sounds like the anime opening theme that never stops. It is fast. Most tracks barrel along at a clip that would leave most pop records gasping, with drum machines clattering and synths stacking into these big block chords that feel like title cards flashing on screen. The melodies are all hooks, and the lyrics are plain and direct. This is not coy or ironic. It is sincere about its influences.
Artadi wrote and produced everything herself. Louis Cole mastered it, and a small crew of engineers handled recording and mixing across different studios in Los Angeles. The record comes from the same scene as KNOWER and all that adjacent LA weirdo-pop, but where that stuff can be arch or self-consciously clever, this one just goes. It has a track called Ode To Spaghetti. It has a feature from someone named Kaz Skellington. It is ridiculous and it works because the energy is real.
If you like art-pop that is not afraid to be loud and fast and kind of silly, this is for you. It is for people who watch the opening credits of a show and do not skip them. It is for people who liked the last Bent Knee record but wished it was more unhinged. It is also for people who just want something that sounds genuinely excited to exist, because that is what this sounds like.
