Buckle up because Mannequin Pussy are about to release one of the best punk albums of the year. Seriously! I haven’t been able to stop listening since I first heard it earlier this month. I mention that only because the Philadelphia band specializes in short, concise songs and if the 87 seconds of “Emotional High” aren’t enough to convince you, rest assured the whole album is just as great. Romantic, the follow-up to Mannequin Pussy’s 2013 debut Gypsy Pervert (title shortened to GP for its reissue on Tiny Engines the following year because, well, you get it) is snarling and sweet in equal measure, building on the band’s mastery of both edges of the punk-pop spectrum. “Emotional High” blends the two particularly well, detailing the inexplicable feeling and gratitude you feel when you find a best friend you can count on: “I really can’t explain it/ It’s an emotional high/ There’s nothing to it/ If I could, I’d tell you all the time.”

“It’s so genuinely full of warmth because I am appreciative of the people in my life, and I can’t believe they’re there,” Marisa Dabice told Noisey, who debuted the track. “Sometimes you don’t know how to tell people in your life that you love them, and music is a chance to do that. It’s in such an emotionally dense record it’s this standalone song that’s the most telling of the things you need when you’re in the middle of a bunch of darkness. ‘Emotional High’ is that gratitude for my people song.”

Listen below.

Tracklist:
01 “Kiss”
02 “Romantic”
03 “Ten”
04 “Emotional High”
05 “Pledge”
06 “Denial”
07 “Everything”
08 “Anything”
09 “Meatslave One”
10 “Hey, Steven”
11 “Beside Yourself”

Romantic is out 10/28 via Tiny Engines. Pre-order it here.