video review: 'say yes to love' by perfect pussy

Man, that was a welcome surprise. Great album, definitely liked it.

Next up... hmm, not sure. We'll see, so stay tuned!

album review: 'say yes to love' by perfect pussy

I've got a complicated relationship with noise rock.

It's a critically beloved genre, especially by Gen X critics coming up in the 90s who love Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr., but I've always had a certain amount of difficulty breaking into it. Maybe it was just the walls of distortion and fuzz that defined 90s rock and the lack of distinctive driving tunes - or the fact that the mix seldom made it easy to parse out the lyrics - but the noise rock that I like often sticks closer to a punk edge rather than meandering shoegaze. After all, I like good melody lines, and the punk rock I like the most tends to have the most straightforward, potent melodies in the book, even if they are overwhelmed by waves of harsh distortion.

And thus, it wasn't long before a critically acclaimed act like Perfect Pussy caught my eye. Last year they built some impressive buzz with their debut EP I Have Lost All Desire For Feeling, which stuck close to the post-hardcore roots of their lead singer Meredith Graves. But the reason I was a little averse to covering the band at first was a noted production choice where the band chose to shove Meredith Graves' vocals near the back of the mix, which would make the lyrics even more difficult to figure out. Which, if you've followed this review series, is a production choice of which I'm rarely a fan.

That being said, with the strong critical buzz surrounding their debut album Say Yes To Love, especially with regards to their feminist-themed lyrical nuance, I felt obliged to take a look out of sheer curiosity. Would Perfect Pussy end up being the Savages of this year?