Freak Slug is living life on shuffle

Slugs aren’t known for their singing. They don’t even have ears.

Still, it makes sense that Xenya Genovese, who performs under the musical moniker Freak Slug, would identify with a gastropod. They both have similar ways of navigating the world.

Although they can’t hear, slugs feel and are highly attuned to movements in the earth. Genovese, like the mollusca that inspired her pseudonym, also has a very keen sense of the vibe.

After half a dozen years of studying fine arts and pursuing the painter’s life, the Manchester-born visual artist, seemingly out of nowhere, dropped her brushes and picked up a guitar. She says she felt called to music.

“I didn't expect music would happen, so I don't know what else will happen,” said Genovese, as if her own personal mantra. “You know, we don't know [with] the state of the world what can happen. I didn't expect that, but f***ing hell, you just gotta go with what's meant for you. And this is my destiny for sure.”

Genovese’s foray into music began in 2019 with her cover of “Disorder” by fellow Mancunian band Joy Division, which she supercut to scenes from the movie Heathers for YouTube. That rendition, now 7 years old, is still finding fans and is currently pushing 6 million streams on Spotify.

Having been rewarded quickly for following her heart and diving headstrong into music, nothing has disabused Genovese of the notion of destiny. Even when it comes to hazy mornings-after, she believes everything, including a headache, is meant to be.

“I’m hungover today, for example, but that’s fine,” said Genovese, minutes before hitting the stage at recordBar in Kansas City on Tuesday, May 12. A month earlier, Freak Slug embarked on tour supporting Irish alternative band NewDad across a spate of North American tour dates, including high-visibility stops at Coachella and Kilby Block Party.

“You just gotta rock and roll. It is what it is. It’s funny, at the end of the day, sometimes we play our best shows when we’re hungover.”

Anthony Scanga

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Studio One

I Blow Out Big Candles

Freak Slug’s penchant for indie sleaze and electro pop that frightens and delights reached a zenith with her highly-anticipated 2025 full-length debut, I Blow Out Big Candles (But With a Cherry on Top). The album is a cocksure, “tit-swinging” (in the words of Audiotree’s Psalm One) LP with bangers to spare.

The album’s first song is representative of the whole. “Ya Ready” begins with calm strumming and light jazz, building to a familiar indie middle that culminates in a caustic, distorted finish. Its end, a fuzzy, chaotic disassembly of structure, portends more experimental leaps to come.

Genovese’s messages cut through especially on songs like “Liquorice,” where retribution and the f-word work hand in hand. It's the same for “Spells,” her scream-filled, occult tune, which sounds like the work of a deranged insect with access to a MIDI. In fact, many songs on I Blow Out Big Candles would bring the quality of your average Halloween playlist up significantly.

For lighter fare on the record, “Be Your Girl” is a promise ring in song form. Its weightless vocals give the listener permission to fall back in love all over again, reminiscent of The Sundays’ Harriet Wheeler. That itch gets scratched again with “Hello.” Another stress-reliever, and perhaps the album’s most memorable track, “Sexy Lemon” is an industrial pop masterclass that will make you want to bleach your hair.

On stage, Genovese’s elastic jaw entices the audience to sing along with every word. Thankfully her words are clever and, honestly, a weight off once they're released.

Loose Tooth And A Short Skirt

There was nothing sluggish about Freak Slug’s 2025 rollout. Her album debuted on March 7, followed by yet another project November 7.

Since 2019, Freak Slug has released four EPs: Videos, I’m In Love, Viva La Vulva and last year’s Loose Tooth And A Short Skirt, whose vibrant cover depicting Xenya eating cotton candy in a leather jacket was pulled from the video for the project’s epicenter, “Blue Eyes.” Glitched-out sonics and electronic maximalism, while still present, take a back seat to tender lyrics and sweet succinctness.

The 5-song EP’s even-handed production lets the sweetness shine through on songs like “My Only Friend” and “Miss June,” a Studio One favorite. Similarly, the prose on the EP’s opener, “Honest Man,” stares you in the face, forcing one to reckon with its violent and cyclical nature: “Every bruise and every cut!"

Liam or Noel?

Like the boorish brothers behind legendary rock band Oasis, Genovese reps Manchester, England. When asked which Gallagher sibling, Liam or Noel, she most aligns with, Genovese responded without a second thought.

“I love Liam [Gallagher],” said Genovese. “I think he's just funny, mate. Like, I love Noel, too. It's so funny, my mum was like, ‘You know, Noel would be a really good fit, like as a boyfriend for you.’ I was like, ‘Mum… nah. That's not the vibe, bro. Like, lock in, Mum.’”

“I just love Liam. I think he's funny and, like, I just get it. I get his vibe, I think it's brilliant. Even though he's a little sh*t, I just think it’s fantastic.”