It’s been five years since Mannequin Pussy released their critically-acclaimed album Patience, which proved just how versatile and unapologetically intense these Philly punk rockers could be. From perfect break-up anthems like “Drunk II” to screaming ragers like “Cream,” the band ventured beyond the noise rock heard in Fishtown dive bars to write stunning songs with tons of emotional power. Since then, Mannequin Pussy — which is comprised of singer Marisa “Missy” Dabice, drummer Kaleen Reading, bassist Colins “Bear” Regisford, and newly added guitarist and keyboardist Maxine Steen — scratched the pandemic itch for a new Mannequin Pussy record with 2021’s EP Perfect.
On the highly anticipated I Got Heaven, they've completely leveled up, enmeshing lush synth sounds into their brash punk sensibility. Nowhere is this more prominent than on the title track. The song comes in hot with rage at Christian hypocrisy, before splitting into a meditative self-love mantra. It’s refreshing, radical, and fearless as Dabice growls, “What if Jesus himself ate my fucking snatch?”
On earlier albums like Patience and 2016’s Romantic, Mannequin Pussy used anger as a blueprint. But on their newest LP, it's as a vessel to explore the depths of loneliness and desire. “I Got Heaven is the longing for something new and exciting,” Dabice told Rolling Stone last year. “There’s a pervasive feeling of longing and horniness to it.”
Album highlight “Loud Bark” expertly straddles rage and lust, as Dabice declares her indomitable ferocity: “Not a single motherfucker who has tried to lock me up/Could get the collar ’round my neck,” she spits in a killer opening line. Against a grungy riff, Dabice shares her contradictory need to be “adored” and feared as she sings, “I’m a waste of a woman, but I taste like success/I keep all of my sugar where I know you like it best.” The song builds into a deafening crescendo as Missy screams the chorus until she is fully unleashed.
Meanwhile “OK? OK! OK? OK!” and “Aching” step into wild, wailing territory; on the former, Bear takes over vocals to yell against Reading’s insistent drums about the fucked up state of the world. These moments ground Mannequin Pussy in their punk roots. But the way Steen’s sleek synth lines slither through I Got Heaven creates an interesting contrast. Adding another layer to their sound, singles like “Nothing Like” and “Sometimes” are filled with soft guitars that could easily soundtrack a cult-favorite romantic comedy from the Nineties.
Mannequin Pussy’s lyrical prowess is on full display with I Got Heaven. In “Tell Me Softly,” they tuck poetic lines about a lover into a gritty track: “Daylight it brings/Revelations about your hands, your lips, your heart.” Such a sentiment almost feels like it wouldn’t fit here, but because the rest of the album is so intense, the sense of optimism is welcome and earned. With album closer “Split Me Open,” I Got Heaven lands one final tender punch with lines like “I’m worried I want you with the power of a thousand suns burning as one” suspended in the verse. Written in the afterglow of an acid trip, according to the band, it’s a dreamy soundscape in the vein of Patience’s “Who You Are,” but on a whole new level with deeper sonic dimensions highlighting Dabice’s delicate falsetto. It’s the sum of what happens when Mannequin Pussy throw raw emotions at the canvas and step back to find a glistening display of human longing.
