Every year, thousands of bands are submerged in the glorious melting pot that is SXSW in Austin, Texas – and every year, there is a golden crown created from the multitude of new bands to emerge from the mega-festival.
The jewel of the 2014 crown, however, was Syracuse five-piece Perfect Pussy. Armed with a frenetic brand of lo-fi noise punk and a high-octane live show, the band are rapidly becoming one of the world’s most exciting new punk groups.
Compared to their past demos, their debut album, Say Yes To Love, (running in at a brisk 23 minutes) develops a more matured and refined sound without sacrificing any of the characteristics that make the quintet so appealing.
After an unabated adrenaline rush to open the record (see ‘Driver’ and ‘Bells’), the album is split by a step down in energy with the beautifully constructed ‘Interference Fits’ before exploding back into distorted rage in the final minutes.
It’s also intriguing to discover the two sides to lead singer Meredith Graves: the modern American woman who loves gardening and food (interview quote: “My idea of a perfect first date would be a dude giving me his credit card, dropping me at Wholefoods, and leaving me alone”), and her aggressive, passionate stage alter ego. She recites her lyrics under a distorted whirlwind of guitar strums and toppling drums, but when her words emerge, they are relentless and savage.
It’s the group’s untamed power that makes this LP so exhilarating, and it’s what will make you come back for more and more. For these 23 minutes, Graves and her band really have produced close to a ‘perfect’ debut.
Watch the clip for ‘I’ from Say Yes To Love here:
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