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On their third LP, this spunky, punky all-female NYC quartet doesn’t stray far from the hard-rocking formula of 2011’s To Be a Blade of Grass in Cracked Cement or 2006’s I Can’t Wait. However, building off Cracked Cement’s last two taut songs, “I Can’t Wait” and Alright!,” Every Which Way bristles with an increased tension and urgency. It also packs a heftier wallop than their previous albums, and the interweaving post-punk guitars of Deborrah Sanchez and Jessica Chaos benefit from added bite and bile.
And since they’re named after a song from The Cure (“Plastic Passion,” from 1980’s Boys Don’t Cry, the US version of their first UK LP Three Imaginary Boys), it’s no surprise to hear that band’s influence stamped throughout. Indeed, the opener “Monster Stomp” – aptly titled, as Stacey Lee’s thumping drumbeat does sound monstrous – hints of Faith’s “Primary” or “Doubt.” Meanwhile, the terse, contemplative instrumental “Ghost Notes,” with its vague “In Between Days” melody, could’ve been a Seventeen Seconds outtake.
But they also inject plenty of current-day punk-fueled indie rock, especially local contemporaries Screaming Females. That’s largely due to robust-piped singer Chaos’s vocal resemblance to Marissa Paternoster, most notably on the skittish, exuberant “C’mon C’mon.” What the charismatic Chaos lacks in technical precision is compensated by sheer verve and passion, as when she adopts a Penelope Houston-like bark on standout tunes like the scorching, surf-licked “Dance Song” (which depicts a particularly carnal dancefloor encounter) or the seething, tempo-shifting sizzlers “Hold My Face” and “Let Go.” All three grab for the jugular, and that holds true for most of Every Which Way. (plastiqpassiontheband.com)
