Understanding Hertz and Its Connection to Mental Health
Hertz is a unit of measurement that represents one cycle per second. When visualized, it often appears as a wave moving across a chart, dipping below and rising above a horizontal axis, forming a sine wave pattern. This same visual representation can also be used to depict music, and for Western Australian singer, songwriter, and guitarist Carla Geneve, it became a powerful metaphor for her bipolar II disorder diagnosis in 2019.
The concept of hertz resonated with Geneve as she navigated the emotional highs and lows of her condition. She used this wave as a guide for her sophomore album, Hertz, which blends open plains Americana with personal reflection. The album explores the emotional journey of someone living with bipolar disorder, where peaks represent manic states such as elation or irritability, while troughs reflect sadness or hopelessness. Between these extremes lies euthymia, a stable mental state from which emotional fluctuations can be measured.
Emotional Oscillations in Music
Geneve’s approach to recording Hertz was deeply influenced by the oscillations of her emotions. She aimed to capture the manic and depressive states through the album’s lyrical content, narrative progression, and sonic details. On the first half of the album, manic states are represented by “sparkly” and “crackly” highs, along with complex chord changes, while the latter half features a lower, more somber vocal tone that reflects the slow, melting dirge of depression.
“Something I really wanted to capture with this album, as much of a c— as a bipolar diagnosis is, there’s a lot you experience,” Geneve explains. “I wouldn’t say more than anyone else, but you experience [life] in a way that’s different.”
The album opener, Growing Pains, was written during the onset of the pandemic, reflecting on her post-diagnosis period of introspection. It then takes a downward turn on Drive Carefully, where Geneve reflects on the cycles of anger and fear that define her lowest moments.
Exploring New Musical Directions
Later in the album, Bills brings a lighthearted shift with its bossa nova rhythm, a playful contrast to the darker themes explored earlier. However, the album takes a devastating turn on Play School, inspired by a friend’s manic episode. The track features eerie bursts of synthesizer, designed to evoke the disconnection from reality experienced during psychosis.
“I wanted it to sound like the whole [song] is just breaking. It’s a shock of pure emotion,” Geneve says. “Watching someone go through a psychosis, it’s that complete disconnect from reality. There is just static white noise that comes out of nowhere; that’s what we were trying to make.”
By the time the album reaches its closing track, Creatures in the Water, Geneve is once again on a high, reflecting on the beauty of the world around her. “I remember walking around Fremantle, and just being like: ‘This is so beautiful’,” she recalls.
Empathy and New Perspectives
Writing about other people, as she does on Play School and elsewhere on Hertz, has come from revelations sparked by new treatment paths following her diagnosis. Geneve credits this shift in perspective to gaining empathy for herself and overcoming inner turmoil. She also highlights the importance of medication, which allows her the mental space to think and consider others beyond her own experiences.
“My last record was really just my stories. I had the space to look at myself from a more objective position and then apply that methodology to other people,” she says. “Which I’m very happy about because there’s way more people in the world than just me and probably way more interesting people too.”
Personal Experiences and Patterns
While Geneve emphasizes that everyone’s experience with bipolar disorder is unique, she has begun to recognize patterns in her own symptoms, particularly those aligned with seasonal changes. “It comes back to the title of the album, talking about a frequency that runs through everything in the world,” she says. “Usually at the start of summer, I’ll start feeling better—more social, feeling creative, inspired and extremely hyper-focused, usually on music.”
However, this high often fades into frustration as the energy wanes. “Then it will get to a point where it’s not fun at all,” she continues. “Then a crash happens and I’ve lined all this stuff up that I need to do, I’ve got nothing to give and I’m like: ‘F— it, I’ve done it again.’”
A New Perspective on Life
Geneve speaks on a good day, one of those spring heaters when Naarm tricks you into thinking winter’s over. She’s preparing for a headline set at the Night Cat, and the warm grass beneath them is alive with the sounds of birds chirping. Geneve feels buoyant, ready to share her story.
“The [diagnosis] validated my experiences and made me realise it’s not just me being dramatic, there is actually something bigger going on… [It’s] a release from being confused, doubtful and unsure. It alleviates anxiety,” she says.
Paradoxically, hertz cycles intensify as they get smaller. Kilohertz, megahertz, gigahertz—all pack more of themselves into each second, their frequency increases but the size of the box stays the same. Geneve’s 2022 debut, Learn to Like It, even in its quietest moments, felt like the overstretched rubber band holding that box together was ready to snap. But with more breathing room to process her diagnosis, Geneve now runs Hertz’s emotional gamut with a level of acceptance missing from its tightly coiled predecessor.
A Deeper Understanding
Hertz’s cycles feel slower, more considered, and more at peace with it all. “I’m not lazy, I’m just tired/ I’m not crazy, I’m inspired/ Even the times it backfired, they don’t phase me,” she sings on the gently strummed Feel. The album represents Geneve’s deeper understanding of her life cycles, art, and mental illness, and the places those things overlap. She wears her hertz on her sleeve, so to speak.
“It’s a chemical imbalance in your brain, but it also interacts with personality, experiences and a million other things in your life. I looked at my life for a while purely through the lens [of my diagnosis]. As I get older, [I’m finding] there’s so many lenses to look through.”
Carla Geneve’s Hertz is out on Friday.
