Now on his third album, Seattle artist Mike Hadreas, aka Perfume Genius, has built up a strong international cult following for his distinctive brand of artful torch songs. Featuring numerous offbeat synth flourishes and occasional moments of dissonance, Too Bright is Hadreas’ most experimental effort to date, although thankfully it retains his assured melodic touch.
The album kicks off with the delicate piano ballad, ‘I Decline’ – a wonderfully atmospheric and ethereal slice of dream-pop. One of the stand-out numbers is ‘Queen’, a leftfield slice of sonic weirditude topped with a hummable melody, which finds Hadreas humorously satirising moral panic about gay culture, crooning, “No family is safe when I sashay.” Elsewhere, two of the most impressive tracks are ‘My Body’ and ‘Grid’, both powerful torch songs which channel the angst and avant-garde sensibility of latterday Scott Walker whilst remaining pleasingly accessible.
A true maverick spirit, whose songwriting chops are supremely accomplished, Perfume Genius’s records carry the distinctive scent of brilliance.
OUT SEPTEMBER 19.