Quick-fire Questions: 10 minutes with ĠENN
After making a splash in the world of psych-driven post-punk on their Unum debut two years ago, ĠENN stirs an even deeper immersion in the pool of meditative lysergia for their latest single ‘Reverberations’.
An Anglo-Maltese “sisterhood” based in Brighton, an artful brew of Mediterranean folk and a smattering of cosmic complexity, yields another intriguing new addition to the unwieldy world of psych-rock’s resurgences of late. Teaming up with former Savages and Jenny Beth Producer Johnny Hostile, a sharper and fiercer sonic realm is forged by the quartet for ‘Reverberations’, raising the aural stakes with their cinematic shroud, while never drifting off into new age bloat that can blight the genre’s lessers.
The synergy at play between the members, Janelle Borg on guitar, Sofia Rose Cooper behind the drums, bass duties handled by Leanne Zammit, and otherworldly vocals from Leona Farrugia, also reflects the transient alchemy of their collective multinational backgrounds. “In an era where people from migrant backgrounds have their culture and their music appropriated – but then discarded or even targeted – and in a socio-political climate that’s far from kind to people who look like us, we’re here to embrace what makes us different,” ĠENN state.
They add, “We’re here to share it with the world – and stand on stage and have our voices, our music, our culture and the core of who we are represented without fear”.
As a part of their process to spread ‘Reverberations’ evocative wander, we caught up with Leona and Sofia for a little insight into the ĠENN world, talking scary childhood TV shows, favourite pubs, and what ‘crazy’ means to them. Check out our Quick-fire Questions below:
Quick-fire Questions with ĠENN:
What song would you want played at your funeral?
Sofia: ‘Electric Feel’ by MGMT – and I’d want everyone to dance like I’m watching.
Is there a key non-musical artist you could say has influenced the latest single, ‘Reverberations’?
Leona: Rather uncanny that you ask this – when we worked with Johnny Hostile [producer], I compiled a list of non-musical influences for him to get the full picture.
The fragility of humans, the yearning, and the transformation portrayed in The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey – easily one of my favourite reads.
If this track had to be a film, it would be something that churns the dial slowly along the lines of Haneke and Rohmer. An equal amount of melancholia and forbidden seduction, like Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer). The eeriness of On the Silver Globe (Andrzej Żuławski) and Stalker (Andrei Tarkovsky). A hint of the visual poetry of Leos Carax and the realism in Varda’s work.
What’s your favourite dad joke?
S: Classic “I’m hungry.” “No, you’re not, you’re Sofia.”
Best album of 2025 so far?
S: Little Simz – Lotus
What movie/TV show scared you the most as a kid?
S: Kinda always a bit freaked out by Big Bird from Sesame Street.
What’s the greatest pub in the world?
S: I don’t know about the world, but The Gladstone in Brighton will always hold a special place in my heart.
Tell us a Maltese artist we need to hear immediately.
L: You’re about to get me in trouble, because I really ought not forget anyone! So many cool artists: my friend (yes, very biased) David Schembri, the collective UltraLow Music, The Beangrowers, That BB, Etnica, Joon, and a long-time friend and collaborator, SUNTA.
Who’s the most intimidating member of ĠENN?
S: I wouldn’t say intimidating, but Leanne’s talent leaves me speechless at times. We could be just chilling, and she’ll come up with some ridiculous riff, and I’m just like, “How the hell am I gonna match that?!”
What does ‘crazy’ mean to you?
L: Perhaps the word ‘crazy’ can have a rather negative implication, especially when we look at it from a psychological point of view and how it can be a term of derision and dismissal.
Yet, on the other hand, quite paradoxically, when we apply that to philosophers, artists, and creatives, it can be playful and almost a rite of passage. It represents duality. It is uncategorisable, in my opinion, and perhaps that is why ĠENN (frenzy/crazy in Maltese) can be multifaceted in that sense.
It does feel like we subconsciously ‘marginalise’ anything that is not the ‘norm’ under ‘crazy’ or ‘mad’, and I suppose what I am trying to get to here is that a lot of communities might have experienced this term and its negative implications throughout the history of time, so perhaps it is about reclaiming the word and decolonising it!
What book’s been sitting on your shelf you just haven’t got round to reading yet, but must?
S: How to Keep House While Drowning by KC Davis. It’s a gentle self-help book for spicy brains who struggle with housework, etc. Ironically, I haven’t managed to keep up with reading it, but it’s really good.
Is there an artist you’re compared to that forever flummoxes you?
L: Really not a big fan of the lazy comparisons to be frank. People see four femme-presenting individuals and immediately they’re like, “Oh, it’s so RIOT GRRRL.”
However, I do always giggle and do a little happy dance when people compare us to Warpaint and Savages, despite my going on about lazy comparisons. These bands are pioneers and will always have a special place in my heart.
Give us a clue to your likely next single’s sound?
Both: Cinematic
Whose idea was ‘Reverberations’ ambiguous artwork?
L: It came about after a whole summer of reminiscing about the landscape back home (Malta) – the significance of places, memories, rituals, objects, and people.
It was a collaboration between Justine Ellul (a close friend of mine) and me, created in the dry August heat in a field near Imġarr in Malta.
The pomegranate – ‘rummiena’ – holds significance and a lot of nostalgia. There is an underlying parallel between this ancient fruit and the themes/motifs that are explored in ‘Reverberations’.
There is a Maltese saying: ‘Is-siġra tar-rummien timlilek il-ġewlaq u żżejjen il-ġnien’ translated as ‘The pomegranate tree fills your belly and adorns your garden.’
We have the habit of categorising things as ‘beautiful’, which is subjective, but when the fruit has lost its vitality, its life force, is it still ‘beautiful’ as it is rotting away, decaying into matter? Is there a familiar beauty in knowing something must end for there to be a new beginning? Life and death – this cycle that nature portrays so effortlessly, but somehow humans have attached so many emotions to it…
What’s a lyric you wished you’d written?
L: “I go through all this / Before you wake up / So I can feel happier / To be safe up here with you”
‘Hyperballad’, Björk
Are The Beatles overrated?
S: In my personal opinion and as a drummer, yes. I’ve genuinely tried not to be that person who hates on something other people love. I’ve really sat and tried to dig The Beatles multiple times. Ringo Starr obviously has a unique style of playing, and yeah, it’s just not my style of drumming at all. I find myself quite distracted by his playing instead of listening to the whole composition.
