Album Review: Mannequin Pussy - 'I Got Heaven'
Philadelphia rock quartet return with their most realised LP yet.
Ever since their self-titled debut arrived back in 2014, Mannequin Pussy's main ethos has been to bring people together in an otherwise ugly, and fairly messy world. While each of their four records shine in their own individual colour, one thing has remained the same - an untempered wall of sound that demands to be heard.
Now as March hits, we see them hit their greatest stride with I Got Heaven. The album - amounting to half hour through 10 tracks - is a balancing act between spit-balling punk and contemplative shoegaze-y shine as the bands' brazen moods crack under tension.
Lit with longing and hunger, I Got Heaven sees them at their most adventurous yet.
The group let their feelings spill out in the most gorgeous of ways first with seedy opener, I Got Heaven, the apparent headstrong lead for the record. It's a stadium-filler that certainly packs a punch but doesn't overdo itself enough to lose its grounding, as it soars into a spritely chorus. Bold lyrics from front-woman Dabice start with, "I went and walked myself like a dog without a leash / Now I'm growling at a stranger, I am biting at their knees," portraying the albums' artwork of tussle whether we're protecting the animal or sending to its slaughter.
Nothing Like keeps the punk spirit idle for the time-being with a shoegaze-y pop sprint that has definitive tropes of indie stalwarts Wolf Alice and Big Thief, while I Don't Know You is the playful acoustic on the record before it's drowned out in fuzzy noise.
Sometimes piques into more high-rising frolic of alt-rock relief before we're hurled into an instant change-up in OK!.. - a visceral slap-in-face questioning the status-quo as the band reach into a spiralling.
There is another change-up with Softly, a gritty, yearning sermon in being forever alone and striving for that connection.
We're told that that very connection is a hoax: the anger swamps the lull and we're back in the pits. Both Of Her and Aching play out their minute-and-a-half entireties, as the group double down on making something so wholly alive, almost brutish in design. The 30-minute playtime is waned off with the indie divinity of Split Me Open - "My body's a temple / It was built for you" - the final elegance in an otherwise enraged arrangement.
Broiled with this incessant back-and-forth, I Got Heaven plays a striking chord in the bands' desire for control. Above all else, it barks, it bites and breathes in relief as Mannequin Pussy trump all expectations with their fourth.
Words by Alex Curle
