Mannequin Pussy : I Got Heaven
Too often I feel late to jump on musical bandwagons, but I might have stumbled into the right place at the right time with Mannequin Pussy. After largely missing out on their two-piece and three-piece beginnings in my hometown, and feeling noncommittal about their 2021 EP Perfect, the now-quartet from Philly release a fourth LP, I Got Heaven, that feels like it can latch on to anyone and not let go. It’s a refresher course on their acerbic hardcore stylings while making room for successful softer sounds, the results expertly assembled in the mostly loud/occasionally quiet dynamic of Pixies and Nirvana albums.
If the opening title track is any indication—”And what if we stopped spinning?/And what if we’re just flat?/And what if Jesus himself ate my fucking snatch?”—Marisa Dabice and friends can still deliver heavyweight combos of lyrical and punk punch, full of frustration that concepts like loving thy neighbor and exhibiting common sense suddenly seem like dying arts if not lost ones. Bassist Colins “Bear” Regisford checks in with punishing lead vocals on “OK? OK! OK? OK!” as part of a couple being torn apart by everyday stresses. Songs like “Of Her” and “Sometimes” trade off propulsive power and earworm melodies with help from drummer Kaleen Reading and recently added guitarist Maxine Steen.
All this, and longtime listeners might discern that I Got Heaven is Mannequin Pussy’s slowest album to date. That’s not a knock; consider it the band coming up for air after a successful swim against the current, expanding their sonic palette without necessarily softening their stances. The first cut I heard off of this was the ballad “I Don’t Know You” broadcast on SiriusXM’s Faction Punk channel, washed in synths and violins many miles away from the high-speed antics that are the band and the channel’s stock-in-trade.
It’s actually quite pretty, and it’s part of a whole subset of this LP—”Tell Me Softly,” “Split Me Open” and more—that brings in both snappy and ethereal production decisions from the 1990s. It positions I Got Heaven as a snarling portmanteau of an album: part lost riot grrrl release, part dream-pop and shoegaze tenderness. It also suggests Mannequin Pussy’s power as musical champions for (and critics of) an ever-changing world is both growing and underrated.
Label: Epitaph
Year: 2024
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Mannequin Pussy : I Got Heaven
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