Listening to Mike Hadreas sing feels like an intrusion \u2013 as if stumbling into a confessional not meant for others to hear. The one-man band behind Perfume Genius, Hadreas quietly bares the details of his life with unyielding bluntness, working through issues internally while a recorder tapes what goes on in his mind. It\u2019s brutal and fascinating.<\/p>\n
On his latest effort Put Your Back N 2 It, Hadreas has created a haunting and pertinent album which despite all its good traits is a bit undone. His minimalistic approach \u2013 the tender plinking piano keys, simmering strings and reticent drum beats \u2013 belie his complex lyrics, and the songs come across as three-minute sketches instead of finished work. Fine sketches, for sure, but the potential of a masterpiece remains silently in the background.<\/p>\n
Hadreas opens the album with a deep, cleansing breath before moving into \u201cAWOL Marine,\u201d a song which shares overtones of Julee Cruise and Leonard Bernstein. The gentle piano gives way to Hadreas\u2019 ethereal voice, which sounds as dreamy as it is menacing. \u201cAWOL Marine,\u201d he sings, \u201cturn toward the camera, slowly.\u201d Not sure what is going on here, but it doesn\u2019t sound innocent.<\/p>\n
\u201cNormal Song\u201d follows, paced by a simple guitar waltz, Hadreas snaps out words like he\u2019s sending knifes through the air. These sharp daggers are present in the stirring \u201c17,\u201d a song Hadreas has called a gay suicide letter. A repetitive piano plays over a series of elegiac strings and crying chords. \u201cI am done I am done with it,\u201d he says, and it almost breaks your heart.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not all gentle whimsy. \u201cDark Parts\u201d surges with rising arrangements and is one of the few songs that doesn\u2019t depend on Hadreas\u2019 voice to give it emotional weight, while \u201cHood\u201d is about as rocking as Hadreas gets. The video for \u201cHood\u201d may be the reason people know of Perfume Genius, as YouTube rejected it for \u201cpromoting mature sexual themes\u201d (it shows Hadreas having his hair combed by adult porn star Arpad Miklos). YouTube\u2019s move drew the ire of one Michael Stipe, who is taking up more causes now that he has some extra time on his hands.<\/p>\n
Put Your Back N 2 It delivers snippets of greatness, but too often the tracks end before they fully develop. Whether Hadreas has little patience or he\u2019s just finding his way, I for one want to hear more of what he has to offer. This album is a proper primer of promise, here\u2019s hoping he decides to linger longer in future endeavors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Listening to Mike Hadreas sing feels like an intrusion \u2013 as if stumbling into a confessional not meant for others to hear. The one-man band behind Perfume Genius, Hadreas quietly bares the details of his life with unyielding bluntness, working through issues internally while a recorder tapes what goes on in his mind. It\u2019s brutal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1181,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[267,268],"class_list":["post-1180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","tag-perfume-genius","tag-put-your-back-n-2-it"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1180"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1182,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1180\/revisions\/1182"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}