Photo by Bec Parsons.
Genesis Owusu has shared a new visual treatment for "Black Dogs!," a track from his March 2021 debut studio LP, Smiling With No Teeth. The video comes as the Ghanaian-Australian vocalist prepares for his first U.S. headlining tour, which starts in San Francisco next month, a full year after that album's release.
Smiling's songs range from R&B ballads to psych-funk groovers to retrofuturist raps, with Owusu demonstrating an easy mastery of every style he tries. "Black Dogs!" is a no-holds-barred punk track. "It’s a straight-to-the-point song encompassing a day in the life of me, or just any Black person in Australia," Owusu writes. "It’s not that I’m getting abused by police every day, but it’s all the little micro-aggressions. Sonically speaking, it plays into how I feel every day, going into white spaces and feeling a bit paranoid."
Its new, mostly black-and-white video finds him clawing through invisible, paper-thin walls and moshing alone, surrounded by an infinity of whiteness. "I really wanted to capture the tension and the rising chaos of the song in video form, and [director] Daniela Federici knew how to bring that energy in spades, but also in a really artful way,” he says.
Watch the video, and check out Genesis Owusu's upcoming U.S. tour dates, below.
Genesis Owusu spring 2022 U.S. tour
3/20 - The Independent - San Francisco, CA
3/21 - The Roxy - Los Angeles, CA
3/24 - Boise, ID - Treefort Music Fest @ El Korah Shrine *
3/25 - Neumos - Seattle, WA
3/28 - Turf Club - St. Paul, MN
3/29 - Schubas - Chicago, IL
3/31 - Underground Arts - Philadelphia, PA
4/02 - Bowery Ballroom - New York City, NY
4/03 - Boston, MA - The Sinclair *
4/08 - Washington, DC - DC9 Nightclub *
4/09 - Durham, NC - Motorco Music Hall *
4/10 - Terminal West - Atlanta, GA
4/12 - Basement East - Nashville, TN
4/14 - Antone's - Austin, TX
4/15 - Dallas, TX - Studio at the Factory *
4/16 - Houston, TX - White Oak Music Hall [upstairs] *
* notes recently added dates