The NYC-based quartet Female Genius came out of hiatus and released their new album, Jagged and Fractured, in late 2025. In the runout groove of the group’s 2021 self-titled debut LP, an etching reads: “Female genius for a better tomorrow.” And they are continuing to construct that world.
Female Genius “collects the detritus of culture in order to reflect it back at a different angle.”
Julia Hair explains:
We take audio samples from social media, 911 calls, and mainstream television and put them into our music. This different context zooms in on an alternate point of view into life at this moment that counters the original point of view.
It’s important to me that women’s voices are heard. The playing field is still very uneven. I’ve worked with men who think they are gender blind because their sexism is so ingrained they just can’t see it.
Hair was a founding member of Experimental Post-Punk band 3 Teens Kill 4, releasing No Motive and touring around the country. An amalgamation of multi-disciplinary artists, 3 Teens Kill 4 initiated creative edicts that Hair carries with her to this day: “no front person, no cult of personality, substance trumps style and the party line is that there is no party line.” Hair was also a founding member of post-No Wave Noise rockers Live Skull and later, Noch Nichts, Bite Like A Kitty and Digitalis. In more recent years, Hair played bass and sang in Death Rock trio Isolation Society in addition to forming her current group. With Female Genius, Hair sings, plays bass, synth and auxiliary percussion.
Guitarist Janice Sloane spent her teenage years at Manhattan venues like CBGB’s, Max’s Kansas City, Tier 3 and the Mudd Club. During the 1980s, Sloane played in a number of underground bands, including Kilpig, King of Culture and an early incarnation of Missing Foundation. In the 2000s, Sloane played in the Wharton Tiers Ensemble, but it was in 2026, when she was one of 100 guitarists who played Glenn Branca’s Symphony No.13 (Hallucination City) as conducted by Reg Bloor at Lincoln Center, that she took her place as an experimental player of some note.
Nikki D’Agostino is an avant-garde composer who teaches music technology at CUNY. D’Agostino’s practice centers on experimental sound, performer agency and interdisciplinary collaboration. She is currently developing a book of scores and recording an album based on an original notation system that she developed. In Female Genius, D’Agostino plays saxophone and an EWI (electronic wind instrument), providing the atmosphere behind Female Genius’ sound. On top of all of the above, D’Agostino also plays in Rock group The Art Gray Noizz Quintet and cowboy goth ensemble Diceholes.
The newest member of Female Genius is Jules “Mossy” Ross. Contributing vocals while playing keyboards and percussion, Ross replaces founding member Marnie Jaffe. Keeping with the Female Genius way, Ross is an accomplished multi-instrumentalist and a member of several bands, including Nuclear Family Fantasy, which she leads on bass and vocals, and the “indie glam” Tough Darling, in which she plays drums.
