Mannequin Pussy frontperson/creative maestro Marisa Dabice isn’t shy about putting her feelings on display. The Philadelphia-based band’s latest record, Patience, is a roller-coaster ride of emotions, 10 songs in 26 minutes that nevertheless feels like an epic journey. (The length is actually an evolution from the brevity of their previous record, 2016’s equally stellar Romantic, which burned through 11 songs in 17 minutes.)
The quartet — which also includes guitarist Athanasios Paul, drummer Kaleen Reading and bassist Colins Rey Regisford — has become a well-oiled machine, ably moving from the Hardcore roar of “Cream” to the ebb-and-flow, nearly straight-up Rock of the addictive “Drunk II,” which is yet another fierce first-person Dabice tale, this time about drowning romantic heartache in alcohol.
“Once Patience was done and I started listening back to the mixes, I had a few moments of just sheer panic,” Dabice told Upset Magazine shortly after the record was released back in June. “I was listening back to what I said and started asking myself: ‘Oh fuck, do I really want to admit all this so publicly?’ I hadn't experienced that before with an album. That moment where you wonder if maybe you should self-censor, asking yourself if you're actually ready to talk about these things with an audience, is a crucial one. I think it's still going to be a struggle with a few of the themes on the record, but I'm trying to shed the shame of some of these experiences.”
At nearly four-and-a-half minutes, “Drunk II” seems like something of a breakthrough, the best distillation yet of Dabice’s melding of rage and melancholy. Perhaps most curious of all is “High Horse,” a surprisingly atmospheric lament that possesses the same emotive power of Live Through This-era Hole and features this evocative vision: “Pushing me against the kitchen sink/I feel your breath on me/I can taste it in my teeth.”
The album closes with “I’m in Love Again,” a hopeful finale that, in typical Dabice fashion, gets right to the point: “I’m so happy lying here with you/I’m in love with you.”
Mannequin Pussy returns to Cincinnati on Wednesday, Dec. 18 to play the Woodward Theater with Kississippi and The Ophelias. Tickets/more info: woodwardtheater.com.
