Dirty Churches

Dirty Churches is a Brooklyn-based experimental music and performance art project founded by composer and songwriter Jesse Gelaznik with visual artist and performer Rachel Blackwell. Blending analog electronics, live instrumentation, costumed characters, and immersive video art, Dirty Churches creates multimedia performances that blur the boundaries between concert, installation, and opera. At the heart of the project are Jesse's intimate, four-track song journals—psychedelic explorations of analog textures, reverb-soaked guitars, hypnotic synths, and deeply personal lyrics that unfold like surreal dreamscapes. His conceptual work has been presented by HUB New Music, S.E.M. Ensemble, and Experiments in Opera. In its live incarnation, Dirty Churches expands into an ever-evolving collective, with Jesse and Rachel collaborating alongside a rotating cast of musicians and performers to create theatrical, immersive experiences where experimental pop, performance art, and visual storytelling converge.