This year marks the 10th anniversary of Perfume Genius’ critically acclaimed album Too Bright, originally released by Matador on September 23, 2014. The third record by Perfume Genius (Mike Hadreas), it marked a significant departure from the artist’s earlier work with its bold, avant-garde sound and introspective lyrics. The LP featured the standout single ‘Queen’ – Hadreas’ confrontational dissection of “gay panic,” which Pitchfork said “sounds like triumph amid the pathetic relevancy of its subject matter in 2014.” The song was a jolt in the cultural discourse and has since become a fan-favorite. The song’s electric music video featured Hadreas as a young street hustler. WATCH HERE
On September 21 Perfume Genius will release a new crystal-clear vinyl reissue of Too Bright via his long-time label Matador Records. Fans can pre-order the reissue, which will not contain new material, HERE.
Hadreas grew up in Seattle, WA and started his music career in 2008. He put himself on the map with the release of debut album Learning in 2010 via long-time label home Matador Records, earning him widespread praise from music critics and fans around the world. The momentum only intensified with his subsequent albums, 2012’s Put Your Back N 2 It, and 2014’s Too Bright, which exhibited a massive leap forward in both production and confidence. The follow up was 2017’s GRAMMY-nominated No Shape, an album that would crystalize his fan base world-wide and bring mainstream awareness to his art. The record was produced by Blake Mills (Fiona Apple, Alabama Shakes). “If you listen to the four Perfume Genius albums in chronological order, you can hear Hadreas healing himself in real time, moving toward an emancipation that seems, suddenly, to have come to pass,” said The New Yorker. Over the course of the campaign he appeared on multiple late-night television shows and graced the cover of The Fader.
In 2020 Hadreas released the critical masterpiece Set My Heart On Fire Immediately and appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! performing ‘Jason,’ on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert performing ‘Whole Life’ and performed ‘On The Floor’ on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. The album was also produced by GRAMMY-winning producer Blake Mills and featured contributions from musicians Phoebe Bridgers, Jim Keltner, Pino Palladino, Matt Chamberlin and Rob Moose with longtime partner and musical collaborator Alan Wyffels. The LP explores and subverts concepts of masculinity and traditional roles, and introduces decidedly American musical influences. He followed this release with Ugly Season – the LP’s ten songs began as an accompaniment to Perfume Genius and choreographer Kate Wallich’s dance piece, The Sun Still Burns Here, which was commissioned by the Seattle Theatre Group and Mass MoCA and performed via residencies in Seattle, Minneapolis, New York City, and Boston throughout 2019. For the release Hadreas teamed with renowned visual artist Jacolby Satterwhite for a 30 minute film featuring Hadreas and the music of Ugly Season. Entitled Pygmalion’s Ugly Season, the film is both stunning and surreal. Mike Hadreas is now based in Los Angeles and working on a new Perfume Genius album alongside Alan Wyffels.
Praise for Perfume Genius:
“The music is richly recorded, stirring and beautiful. This is a familiar accomplishment in his young career: a slender slice of humanity that refuses to be less than realistically complex. NPR on Too Bright
“a transformative leap that adds eerie electronic squelches, synths and layered soundscapes to the mix. And while there is still plenty of brooding introspection, the album is at heart a call to arms” The New York Times on Too Bright
“these songs feel less like songs and more like treasures.” Pitchfork “Best New Music” on Too Bright
“Mike Hadreas began Perfume Genius in the shadows, with two albums of delicate piano melodies, vocals buried beneath clouds of feedback, and heart-rending honesty about the hardships of living and loving as a queer person. As he’s gone on to incorporate elements of glam rock, baroque pop, and country, Hadreas’ music as Perfume Genius has been cast in even sharper, searing relief.” – Pitchfork
“A pop savant whose vision keeps getting more all-encompassing as he keeps making records…Hadreas’ sound mixes a loving sense of pop history and a blithe disregard for stylistic boundaries, causally traversing goth, glam, synth-pop, soul, and indie-rock, collapsing decades into his music.” – Rolling Stone
“The way he routinely and naturally raises the bar from record to record makes you wonder whether he already knows where he’s going next. Maybe he does and maybe he doesn’t, but as long as he keeps burning, we’ll watch in awe, reflections of the flames dancing in our eyes.” – Consequence
“One of the few singers and songwriters gifted and ambitious and history-minded enough to take ancient forms of rock ‘n’ roll melodrama and turn them into personal loans.” – Stereogum
“One of modern pop’s true boundary-pushing juggernauts.” – Paste Magazine
Find Perfume Genius here:
