Layers Behind The Curtain with Geneva Harrison (Nu Deco Ensemble, Y La Bamba, Rachel Goodrich)
Tue Feb 03 2026
Whether she’s touring with Y La Bamba or scoring live stories for WNYC’s Snap Judgment, Geneva Harrison is the kind of artist who breathes life into her work. She’s a world-class percussionist and producer, and a total student of how music connects.
I loved her takes on the "elasticity" of rhythm. It’s steady and unsteady. Like a heartbeat. Human and tied to the environment. The culture.
We sat down to talk about her deep dive into Brazilian music, what she’s learned from years of touring, and collaborating with everyone from dancers to poets.
For 30% off your first year of DistroKid to share your music with the world click DistroKid.com/vip/lovemusicmore 🌎
Subscribe to this pod's blog on Substack to receive deeper dives on the regular 🏊♂️
Tune into my music and surf the different-yet-connected platforms at ScoobertDoobert.pizza 🍕
Pick up my LP "I" on vinyl in all its full spinning colorfulness 🎨
Score pod merch 🥥
Connect with Geneva on her:
✏️ Website
✏️ IG
A word salad poem cut from episode excerpts by the podcast producer 🫛
Interface with the heartbeat of music. To a certain degree to get to that point. That bed to riff off of. Organic feeling or development. Very elastic. To really play musically. Sympathetically catch that excitement. On the edge, this precipice of something. A very rich palette. Musical motifs and whatnot. Viscerally react. Even if it’s just a moment. Experience the song even better. On a great stream of consciousness exploration. Amoebic kind of flow. Sparks. The input of the world. Certain experiences. Finding flow together. Flying. Something extremely dreamy. Brings very different experience along. Pushed towards percussion. The viscerality. So incredibly key. Set of melodies. Innate kinds of expressions we have. The subtle nuance of variation. Like ancient connections. Part of it. It evolves over time. Being moved together all collectively connecting to something. Music is such a great channel for all of that. Some wild shows in the middle of nowhere. Find the language of movement and culture. Groove. Evocative. A really good challenge. Focal point. Vocal lines, melodies, rhythms can really expand. Sway to it. So much room for what that means. ELI5 style. Anything having to do with timing. The secret sauce of really good pop music. In the real around you. This endless world of possibilities and explorations. Righteous reclaiming of joy. Super energized feeling about it. So much rhythm. The space in between notes. That urgency and that excitement. Plays with your very in the moment presence with the art. It’s nice to just have some kind of loop going. Hive motion. Communication, singing, whatever. Crucial. Blocks. Very pulsed. Groove complexity. General sonics. Technical acumen. Down a bizarre corridor. A place to dream. The cultural depth. Hand in hand in a lot of ways. Quiet complexity. All these layers behind the curtain. The medium and the art form. The great connector. History and then energy and then you have music. The push and the pull. At its core. Rhythmic melodies. Conversing. In a couple different capacities. Keeping things fresh and new and reflective of the current time. A very wide world cornucopia of sound. Vibing on each other’s energy. A very nuanced instrument. 🪘
Edited by Rebecca Sansom
Set Design by Max Horwich
Podcast Produced by Beformer
More
Whether she’s touring with Y La Bamba or scoring live stories for WNYC’s Snap Judgment, Geneva Harrison is the kind of artist who breathes life into her work. She’s a world-class percussionist and producer, and a total student of how music connects. I loved her takes on the "elasticity" of rhythm. It’s steady and unsteady. Like a heartbeat. Human and tied to the environment. The culture. We sat down to talk about her deep dive into Brazilian music, what she’s learned from years of touring, and collaborating with everyone from dancers to poets. For 30% off your first year of DistroKid to share your music with the world click DistroKid.com/vip/lovemusicmore 🌎 Subscribe to this pod's blog on Substack to receive deeper dives on the regular 🏊♂️ Tune into my music and surf the different-yet-connected platforms at ScoobertDoobert.pizza 🍕 Pick up my LP "I" on vinyl in all its full spinning colorfulness 🎨 Score pod merch 🥥 Connect with Geneva on her: ✏️ Website ✏️ IG A word salad poem cut from episode excerpts by the podcast producer 🫛 Interface with the heartbeat of music. To a certain degree to get to that point. That bed to riff off of. Organic feeling or development. Very elastic. To really play musically. Sympathetically catch that excitement. On the edge, this precipice of something. A very rich palette. Musical motifs and whatnot. Viscerally react. Even if it’s just a moment. Experience the song even better. On a great stream of consciousness exploration. Amoebic kind of flow. Sparks. The input of the world. Certain experiences. Finding flow together. Flying. Something extremely dreamy. Brings very different experience along. Pushed towards percussion. The viscerality. So incredibly key. Set of melodies. Innate kinds of expressions we have. The subtle nuance of variation. Like ancient connections. Part of it. It evolves over time. Being moved together all collectively connecting to something. Music is such a great channel for all of that. Some wild shows in the middle of nowhere. Find the language of movement and culture. Groove. Evocative. A really good challenge. Focal point. Vocal lines, melodies, rhythms can really expand. Sway to it. So much room for what that means. ELI5 style. Anything having to do with timing. The secret sauce of really good pop music. In the real around you. This endless world of possibilities and explorations. Righteous reclaiming of joy. Super energized feeling about it. So much rhythm. The space in between notes. That urgency and that excitement. Plays with your very in the moment presence with the art. It’s nice to just have some kind of loop going. Hive motion. Communication, singing, whatever. Crucial. Blocks. Very pulsed. Groove complexity. General sonics. Technical acumen. Down a bizarre corridor. A place to dream. The cultural depth. Hand in hand in a lot of ways. Quiet complexity. All these layers behind the curtain. The medium and the art form. The great connector. History and then energy and then you have music. The push and the pull. At its core. Rhythmic melodies. Conversing. In a couple different capacities. Keeping things fresh and new and reflective of the current time. A very wide world cornucopia of sound. Vibing on each other’s energy. A very nuanced instrument. 🪘 Edited by Rebecca Sansom Set Design by Max Horwich Podcast Produced by Beformer