Patriarchy
Manual for Dying
Patriarchy
Los Angeles’ Patriarchy’s lyrics and live shows have been something of a talking point since the band’s real emergence with 2022’s The Unself. In fact, it’s not uncommon for conversations about the project made up of Actually Huizenga and AJ English to revolve entirely around their enfant terrible stage personas and often provocative lyrics, without ever actually touching on their music at all. Which is honestly a shame, because as evidenced by their new LP Manual for Dying, the band’s presentation isn’t covering for a lack of substance. Yeah, Patriarchy gleefully push buttons left and right, and the LP’s tone ranges from cheeky to downright unnerving, but it’s also a collection of good songs that pull in elements of industrial rock, darkwave and synthpop in clever fashion.
As presaged by the buzzy club-ready electro single “Pain is Power”, the record’s main mode is uptempo, brash, and really catchy. Where that track leveraged funky synth bass and Huizenga’s alternately breathy and brassy delivery to produce a cut that could easily slot into a DJ set with Cobrah or Slayyyter, Patriarchy are just as at home doing mid-tempo synthpop accented with crunchy power chords (“Coming Up”) and baroque electronica swathed in bassy drums and sing-songy vocals (“Like Me”, where the presence of background screaming becomes as central to the song as its rhythm programming). Regardless of the tone or tenor of the cut, the record’s production, assisted in part by Twin Shadow’s Erik Brauer, remains dialed in, hard-hitting and razor sharp or lush and inviting as required.
All of that said, it’s not like Manual for Dying is some massive departure from Patriarchy’s established lyrical concerns, mainly sex, and the power dynamics thereof. The record’s opener “Boy on a Leash” gets into it with Actually outlining how to exert control in a relationship in straightforward fashion: “If you wanna keep your boy on a leash/The strategy is catch and release” she sings, building to a bloodcurdling scream that releases all the tension that’s been slowly building throughout. And while that cut and it’s chuggy follow-up “New Way” (sample lyric: “If you wanna swallow/you’ve gotta suck”) keep it mischievous and playful, they dip into menace just as easily, as on the half-rapped “Your Place”, nominally a song about a partner getting too attached too quickly, but delivered by Huizenga and English with horror movie seriousness, campy and ugly in equal measure.
While catching Patriarchy live was previously the key to understanding their half shock-rock, half glam-goth appeal, Manual for Dying is the first record that really captures that energy, perhaps due to how much of it was honed during the band’s extensive touring schedule. It’s one thing to be a band people talk about for your image and your performance, but with this record, Patriarchy’s larger ambitions and appeal have become undeniably, irresistibly clear. Recommended.
