Meredith Graves is making a career out of confessing dark, uncomfortable secrets. Her proto-Pussy band Shoppers scrounged up some local attention in Syracuse, New York, but it was her new band's blistering noise-punk debut cassette "I have lost all desire for feeling" that launched Perfect Pussy from local rotation into internet buzz band extraordinaire. More attention to such a young, talented band? Yes, that's always a good thing. But the iffy label of buzz band brings with it such intense scrutiny and baggage that it isn't fair in the least for a fledgling band to be put in such a situation. Captured Tracks were there to snatch them up while the iron was still hot and and fast-tracked their debut album within months of that fateful "Best New Track" superlative given to their song "I" by tastemakers Pitchfork. "Say Yes to Love", with its seemingly rushed genesis to capitalize on the sudden online attention just screams bad news. It's similar situations that led lo-fi darlings Black Kids into a world they just weren't ready for, eventually destroying the good will the band had developed with their stunning EP and live performances with the release of the overproduced and underdeveloped "Partie Traumatic", (which Pitchfork notoriously panned, and then backed away from the band they had helped hype). Hype for small-time bands has a way of backfiring spectacularly, and it's this buzz band fate notoriety that has the more jaded music fans among us preemptively hating on every and all bands that drum up any online attention whatsoever. It's the same people backlashing against Perfect Pussy despite their crowd-pleasing cassette EP.

However, this is simply not the case with "Say Yes to Love". Despite standing at 8 tracks and 23 or so minutes in length, it comes and goes with such fervor, style, and intensity that making it any longer might have done more harm than good. Every moment feels energetic and overstimulating that multiple listens are greatly rewarded with details easily missed as the songs blaze past you. "Big Stars", my personal favourite song here, flirts with shoegaze and dream pop with its anthemic guitar leads and stargazing synths. "Dig" has a propulsive bass that rumbles underneath Graves' feet. Last year's "I have lost all desire for feeling" was recorded just as quickly and off-the-cuff as "Say Yes to Love", and that seemingly impromptu nature of the music fits Perfect Pussy beautifully. They don't strike me as the type of band that needs a ton of time and money to say what they want to say - even with the short runtime and brief recording period, all it takes is a read-through of the lyrics to understand how much more there is to this record than meets the eye.

Reading the lyrics along with listening (as it's near impossible to make them out otherwise) leads you to hear gems like "You can read the story of my last six weeks/ In little black bruises and marks from boys' teeth" and declarations like "I want to fuck myself/And I want to eat myself". Amidst the noise and the energy, there's a real live human being vomiting up all she feels, and that human is Meredith Graves. There's an intimacy and vulnerability to "Say Yes to Love" that elevates Perfect Pussy's music above the sum of its influences and peers. Detractors are quick to cite their lack of originality, but the earnestness of what is on this record drives the point home that Perfect Pussy are more than a simple buzz band. They have something to say and there's humanity behind it. Graves was quoted as saying part of the reason her vocals are so low in the mix is because of her lack of confidence as a singer, but it's the lyrics she sing-yells here that really support that idea. The band name included, Perfect Pussy are the culmination of a both pro- and anti- female culture we have cultivated, where they're both expected to be perfect ideas of sexuality and also hopeless sluts. This frustration with society's image has birthed a band whose name people struggle to mention in polite company, despite the fact that the "perfect" in the name should really be the problematic part. One of the only spots on the record that has features audible, clear lyrics is halfway through "Interference Fits"; after half a song's worth of the most mellow and least chaotic material here, Graves shouts "Since when do we say yes to love?" before the song explodes into pure chaos and feedback. It's here her passion for the album's message and ultimate theme of rejecting complacency comes full circle.

"Say Yes to Love" shares a lot of parallels with last year's fiercely divisive "Yeezus"; both had short production periods, both have this degree of rushedness and/or filler to the final product, and both have super vocal detractors. Just as "Yeezus" was one of the best albums of last year, so is "Say Yes to Love" among the best of this one, but for completely different reasons. It's an album of casual genius. As the record nears its end, long periods of static ambiance rears its head, but after 15 minutes of intense music, it feels like a band breaking down. Breaking down from exhaustion, breaking down from society's expectations, breaking down from the hype. The most exciting prospect, however, is the final song, "VII", which flirts with true noise music, and features Graves howling in the background as the static and noise gradually becomes more and more engulfing. If that is any indication of where they're headed, the next Perfect Pussy record, maybe with a little more of an incubation time, could be a hell of a stunning follow up to this excellent record. Like "Yeezus", the quality of the release and pure talent involved almost elevates some of the less great material into memorable highlights. With "Yeezus" it was the auto-tune, and here it's the static and tape hiss. One thing is for sure: whether or not Perfect Pussy ever rise above the title of "buzz band", they deserve a hell of a lot better. Say yes to Perfect Pussy. 9.3