Local fave Kim Boekbinder returns for a special one-night gig at the Paper Wing.

Lately, Kim Boekbinder has found it difficult to perform her post-punk electronica anthem “Pussy Grabs Back.” And it has nothing to do with the aforementioned word in the title – not in reference to a cat – which is uttered more than 30 times in the three-and-a-half-minute tune.

“[‘Pussy Grabs Back’] used to be fun to sing and it struck a chord,” Boekbinder says. Its accompanying YouTube video, made by Boekbinder and her friends’ New York City-based video company Sharp as Knives Productions, has racked up nearly 100,000 views. Now, she says, it’s a reminder that footage of then-candidate Donald Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women didn’t prevent his election.

The synth-heavy industrial track, which reverberates with a cold monotone darkness that could double as the lovechild of Trent Reznor and Peaches, was penned a month before the 2016 presidential election. “I was so tired of hearing [Trump] boast about using his power to take advantage of women,” Boekbinder says. “I wanted to respond in a way that was bold and funny.”

Creating entertaining art draped in poignant political relevance is a skill Boekbinder began to tap into over a decade ago alongside her sister Zoe. Their theatrical vaudevillian extravaganza Vermillion Lies regularly sold out Monterey County shows.

“At my core, I’m a storyteller,” Kim says. “The theatrics, the costumes, the visuals – they’re all a way to tell a story and they’re all equally important to me.”

Following “Pussy Grabs Back” and the lingering post-election disappointment, Boekbinder has moved forward, laying out a new narrative with her recently released NOISEWITCH.

“Instead of singing sad songs about things that already happened, I’m singing songs and casting spells for things I want to happen,” she says. “The things we do every day as human beings are both mundane and magical.”

She elaborates: “We all use songs as spells. If you want people to dance, you put on dance music. If you want to seduce, you put on seductive music.”

The 11-track record leaves out the mundane, while expanding upon the Nine Inch Nails-informed soundscape with standout industrial gems like the melodic noise-rock of “Fractal” and the more accessible, New Order-flavored cocktail that is “NightBlooming.”

KIM BOEKBINDER
7pm Sunday, Oct. 8.
Paper Wing Theatre,
320 Hoffman Ave., Monterey. $10.
905-5684, kimboekbinder.com.