Mannequin Pussy’s Marisa Dabice is a whirlwind of a frontwoman, raging one minute and whispering the next. It then comes as no surprise that the Philadelphia-based band’s latest release, an EP called Perfect, is yet another roller-coaster ride of emotions, five songs in 14 minutes that — like MP’s most recent full-length record, 2019’s Patience — nevertheless feels like an epic journey.
The band, which also includes drummer Kaleen Reading and bassist Colins Rey Regisford, is as versatile as ever, convincingly moving from the Hardcore roar of “Perfect” to atmospheric slow-burner “Darling” to the quiet/loud dynamics of “Control,” which is yet another fierce first-person Dabice tale, this time about realizing what she can and can’t control in her life.
“To Lose You” sounds like the middle ground between Hole’s Live Though This and Celebrity Skin, raw emotions delivered in a sleek Rock & Roll package. Most curious of all is “Pigs Is Pigs,” a rager about police misconduct — it cites the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor — and the way it messes with the minds of Black Americans like Regisford who, for the first time ever, handles lead vocals.
Perfect came together rapidly last summer, the result of a pandemic that put a halt to MP’s typically robust touring schedule.
“I learned that we can write quickly,” Dabice said earlier this year in an interview with Atwood Magazine. “I realized that our intuition is really strong with the way that we write and communicate with each other. We created our own language, how to discuss music, and how to create things, and going into a studio space where we quickly made something together was really beautiful. I have a lot of confidence in our ability just as artists and songwriters, and people who still have a lot that we want to say. We want to push it further and further.”
Doors are at 7 p.m. Oct. 21. Woodward Theater requires proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test.
Get show details and tickets at woodwardtheater.com.
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