The genre-defying Mannequin Pussy are back and better than ever after the tumultuous reset that was the pandemic. Coming off the back of 2019’s Patience, and the fantastic 2021 EP Perfect, the Philadelphia outfit’s 4th full length album is here. Leaning more heavily into the full range of their sound, from short and fierce punk, to gentle ballads, mild snarling not excluded, I Got Heaven is provocative and fascinating throughout.
For many artists, the pandemic has proven to be a rebirth of sorts, a stripping down to the core of what makes them them, in the most human way. Losing control of our lives in an external sense drove many to learn the depths of their internal worlds, and losing the rigidity of society showed us that on the flip-side, we do not have to be controlled. Without that everyday stability, it becomes clearer that all we have is ourselves and each other, nothing else is guaranteed.
We have a right to shape the small world around us. We have a right to kick and scream and lament a broken system, whether it affects change or not. We have a right to carve out our own little pocket of rebellion. We have a right to subvert expectations. As our worlds become more polarised and combative, I’ve noticed more and more in the last year, there is a growing movement of those who refuse to be labelled, predictable, and controllable. There are those who wish to be themselves, fiercely and unapologetically, and be free of societal expectations of gender, age, class, and all other performative roles.
Mannequin Pussy are a perfect example of this attitude, and it’s been such a struggle for me to adequately convey how much it means to me that they have put all of this into their music. This album, and specifically the self-expression of lead vocalist Marisa “Missy” Dabice, is such a rejection of the media-driven, sanitised sexuality of the past that is designed to control us. It’s an explosion of the superset of possibilities, and expectations, and opens eyes to the beauty of the freely expressed individual. The lyricism is contradictory, angry, difficult, and horny as all hell. And what’s more punk than being angry, horny, and free? Nothing really describes the attitude throughout better than Missy does in “Loud Bark”: ‘I want to be a danger/ I want to be adored’, and throughout the chorus refrain, ‘I got a loud bark, deep bite’. With radical acceptance of the full depth and complexity of oneself comes an anger that society makes our lives difficult, and controls and stifles us, and much of this album kicks back at that.
The first track “I Got Heaven” is a great example of this. The titular concept of the album, Missy’s lyrics here are all about having everything we need in ourselves, despite what a capitalist system tells us. We are told and sold that heaven is something to work for, to earn, and this song doesn’t just say no; it says fuck you for lying to us. It’s stated clearly already in the first verse of the entire album:
‘If I wanted it
you really think
I’d wait for the permission?
For protection and assurances
that all would be delivered?‘
Missy snarls the words with viciousness, the energy matching the fire in the writing. Yet in the chorus, the tone changes altogether, to the internal heaven that we already have. Going into more of a soft rock feel with the overdriven guitar providing pretty countermelody and Missy’s vocals clean and sustained, the chorus is absolutely beautiful and shows the true depth to the band’s sound. Just as soon as the relief is brought on, though, it is snatched away, straight back into the snarling intensity of the next verse. Even more aggressive and spiteful, Mannequin Pussy makes it clear from the get-go that no punches will be pulled here, and if you’re going to get anything clean and pretty, it’s going to be flanked with fury. If we’re to find beauty in a world like this, anything less is hardly truthful.
After “Loud Bark”, the next two songs “Nothing Like” and “I Don’t Know You” are unexpectedly gentle. “I Don’t Know You” is almost nursery-rhyme-like in its whimsy, and this childlike tone is a fascinating side to this album. Anger is one kind of rebellion, but childlike innocence is another, a refusal to give up the dreams and kindness that adulthood pries from us, and the bravery of being soft in a spiteful world. The counting theme, ‘one, two things I have heard about you‘, and ‘three, four things that they say about you‘, just felt really sweet, and also a nice homage to Feist’s “1234”. There’s nothing performative about this type of softness. Part of not allowing this world to break us, is defaulting to being open and loving, until we are proven wrong, and taking on the mantle of dusting ourselves off to go out and bravely do it again. The final track “Split Me Open” explores this more deeply but I’ll come back to that in a moment.
The first track featuring the vocals of bassist Colins “Bear” Regisford, “OK? OK! OK? OK!” is a sassy, spicy return to the punk roots of the band. Short and energetic, the track is rhythmically varied, fast, and demands a little dancing. Just in case you forgot exactly who Mannequin Pussy are when they showed their soft side, here’s a clear reminder. As the tempo resets, Bear crawls through the next section, fully enunciating and wrapping his tongue around every vowel of ‘You think this pussy’s easy/ you’re gonna have to/ beg and heel and learn‘. I love so much that Bear is able to express masculine sexuality here without aggression, instead offering a calm and confident dominance in contrast with the mocking valley-girl tone Missy satirically puts on here. It’s direct, assertive, and unmistakably horny, but without being possessive or threatening. Masculinity can be dominant and sexy without being antagonistic to feminism.
The last track of I Got Heaven is the intimate “Split Me Open”. To me, this track is about dating as a person who is radically emotionally open. The song may end with a door being closed, Missy going on her way solitary but complete, but it opens with total vulnerability. Missy sings with a reverent tenderness, ‘Split me open/ pour your love in me/ oh, it’s been a while since I’ve had company/oh, it’s been a while since someone touched me‘. As easily as the heart opens and the walls come down, just as quickly the door will close, but the moment of vulnerability is freely given. There’s no beating around the bush here that being so vulnerable is fraught with inner turmoil, but I thought it was such a lovely way to end the album, for Missy to show that behind all the aggression, is a protected and cherished softness.
I Got Heaven is the blueprint for the brave modern rebel. The ideas explored all exist on the border of control and overwhelming emotion – be it anger, frustration, horniness, love, intimacy, pain, lust, affection, rage, or vengeance. Missy is unapologetically not to be fucked with, these instincts are not sanitised or socialised to be presentable, they are let loose. The desires expressed are antisocial, over-familiar, intense, and demanding. There is overtaking lust to merge with others, and destructive rage at a system that mistreats us. This album was a blast, but more importantly, it’s the counter-cultural, angsty mess of emotions that punk is meant to be. And I wanna be like Mannequin Pussy.
