You don’t need me to tell you, but I am telling you anyway: Bulletproof Stockings are everything. They are giving me so much life right now.
The world at large is awakening to the wonderfulness that is Bulletproof Stockings and it is extremely gratifying to see. So, hopefully, you already know what I am talking about.
But just in case…allow me to introduce you to these fierce ladies. Perl Wolfe and Dalia Shusterman are the masterminds (and hearts…and souls…) of Bulletproof Stockings, a killer alt-rock band…that just so happens to be all-female and Chasidic.
Along with Elisheva Maister and Dana Pestun, Perl and Dalia come together as something unprecedented: Real Transcendent Chasidic Ladyrock. This group is a force of nature, gathering sacred feminine power from deep within themselves and the core of the earth, while bringing down divine light simultaneously, and alchemizing it into glorious music to deliver to their audience, whom they aim to set free. It seems safe to say they are accomplishing this goal with great success. They have certainly set me free.
I find it hard to put into words just how moved and liberated I am by the music these ladies are creating. Because they are being true to themselves, their music is utterly unique and fresh. And it is so passionate. Another bonus: their latest album, Homeland Call Stomp, sounds excellent. It is a heightened and intensified version of themselves, in all the best ways. Sometimes when bands get the opportunity to take things up a notch and work with high-end producers, their sound can end up watered down, with the edges smoothed, and the effect is decidedly bland. Thankfully, this is not at all the case with Homeland Call Stomp. Each song is knifeblade-sharp and whip-smart, totally leaning into its distinctiveness and style. I simply cannot get enough.
Check out their title track for yourself, ladies:
It would be one thing if they just sounded great, but the depth of meaning in their lyrics moves me to no end as well. They talk to G-d in the way that I relate to G-d: with passionate love. At the same time, their writing is so entrancingly skillful that it transcends the boundaries of externals (religiosity, specificities of perspective) to create mass appeal. The personal becomes the universal.
Bulletproof Stockings make being Jewish cool. Make being a woman cool. Make being a musician cool. Make being brave cool. Make being human cool. Make taking a risk and saying something real cool. And they do it just by being. By being true to themselves, with grace and beauty.
Bulletproof Stockings, your music is a healing. Where there is a lack of clarity, your music brightens vision. Where there is insecurity, your music heartens. Where there are feelings of inadequacy, your music says, you are enough. Where voices are crowded out, your music carves a space, and lets it be known in no uncertain terms that we as Jewish women must keep on being who we are, and expressing ourselves.
Thank you for making me feel like being me…is cool. I am so excited to share your art with the rest of the world. May you know success after success, and may your music bring as much joy and healing to the rest of the world as it has to me.
Watch Bulletproof Stockings perform live on The Hevria Sessions:
Easy Pray
Check out Bulletproof Stockings Live on their current tour.
“Like” them on Facebook.
Follow them on Soundcloud.