100 gecs are hard to pin down. The experimental pop duo, composed of 26-year-old Dylan Brady and 25-year-old Laura Les, became one of the most polarizing acts of 2019 with their debut album 1000 gecs, which runs the gamut from dubstep to grindcore, video game sounds to nightcore, and ska to emo rap in 23 tight minutes. But if there’s one thing that’s readily apparent about their sound, it’s that it’s supposed to be loud, noisy, and chaotic as hell.

This fact is confirmed by their manager, Cody Verdecias, who exclaims, “My ears got brutalized last night!” as we all walk to a thrift store in Bushwick to get outfits for their photoshoot for them. It’s the Saturday morning following the gecs' whirlwind night of opening for Brockhampton at Madison Square Garden and, immediately after, playing a sold out DJ set in Lower Manhattan. Still recovering from their late engagements, Brady and Les take Verdecias' words as a compliment, as smiles creep across their faces.

In some ways, Les and Brady are opposites; Brady chooses a single tie-dye shirt and a practical North Face snowboarding jacket from the consignment store racks for the shoot, while Les comes back with armfuls of sheer sweaters and black skirts. Brady is generally reserved, while Les is more bubbly and forthcoming, chatting about the merits of low-carb Red Bull and her styling choices. (“This is new money shit,” she says when we get back to the photo studio to justify the fact she bought a $90 skirt.) Brady tucks his long blonde hair behind his ears, while Les likes to let hers hang in front of her face. But throughout the day, I notice their unmistakable sibling-like dynamic, as they trade jokes about ideas for concept restaurants and innovative juul chargers. It’s the same playful, collaborative spirit they exhibit throughout 1000 gecs, which they created by sending Logic Pro X files between Brady’s home in Los Angeles and Les’ in Chicago.

The fact that 1000 gecs was made via internet is just one reason why they’ve been largely defined as an act that’s extremely online. There’s also the fact that they reference internet memes throughout their lyrics, take promotional photos and music videos like they’re trying to recreate Cursed Images, or started working on the album because they were playing a virtual music festival on Minecraft. Some listeners thought the album was supposed to be a post-ironic conceptual project, while others asserted that it was only enjoyable in concept, not in practice (“Almost the entire definition of ‘more interesting than good,” a RateYourMusic user wrote.)

So when I ask if they were specifically trying to fuse together genres that could be considered “low brow,” the duo say that 1000 gecs wasn’t intended to be a commentary on anything. Instead, they assure me that they just have an intensely earnest interest in music. “I just like ska, too, and dubstep... probably the big two that people think of [as low brow],” Brady says immediately. Among their other influences, they mention noisy metalcore Seattle band Duck Duck Goose, internet rap pioneer Soulja Boy, and Warped Tour mainstays like Devil Wears Prada, Chiodos, and Paramore. (At one point during the photoshoot, Les hears Crystal Castles blasting over the speakers and yells to her manager that she wants to meet Alice Glass and “see how she ticks.”)