Perfume Genius - "Too Bright" Vinyl, LP, Album, 2014 (Matador)

I discovered Perfume Genius in Tower Records in Shibuya Tokyo.    It was the year of "Too Bright's" release, so it must have been in 2014.   I was intrigued by the album's front cover shot of Mike Hadreas.   I felt it had a connection to David Bowie's "Hunky Dory."   I put the headphones on and got to the second cut on the album "Queen," and thought to myself, "this is it."  When I got back to Los Angeles, I purchased the vinyl edition, and it is one of my favorite 'new' albums.  Keep in mind that I never bought new music anymore.  The fact is, the past draws me back to certain eras, not due to nostalgia, but because it's new to my ears.  When I hear French Musique Concréte of the 1950s, it just blows everything current away.   But to be honest, it's the past that brought me to Perfume Genius.  As mentioned, it reminded me of the old Bowie cover, but also a time when homosexuality in pop music meant something to me.  It was a forbidden world in the 1970s, especially being surrounded by macho rock icons like The Eagles and so forth.  I just wanted that world to go away, and therefore Roxy Music / Bowie/ Glam became part of my chosen language. 

Playing "Too Bright" from side one to side two, exposed the world that lived in shadows.  There is a low-key technique that Hadreas conveys in his expressionistic view of that planet, that I find intriguing.  The songs for one, are very short.  They're not The Ramones, except I felt that the shortness of the Ramones first album was a statement in itself.  I think "Too Bright" has a similar appeal to come into one's consciousness and then leave as soon as possible. It's like a dream that you awaken from in the middle of the night, but once you go back to sleep, you forget the details of that dream, but you're left with a presence of some sort.  "Too Bright" is that presence that stays like an aftertaste of a good mint chocolate candy. 

The songs have a quiet groove that at times, reminds me of minimal Electro Prince.  Yet there are moments of great majestic gestures that are glam like, but then goes back to a quiet mode of communication.  Adrian Utley, of Portishead fame, co-produced this album, and here he shares an ambiance that is very suitable for Hadreas aesthetic.  An excellent match-up of talent here.  

Perfume Genius - "No Shape" 2 X Vinyl, LP, 2017 (Matador)

It's rare that I comment on a brand new album and artist here, but Perfume Genius' "No Shape" is pure ear candy.  Mike Hadreas simply has that "it" quality.   The way pop music works is that it is always reminding you of the past, and there are traces of Bowie's "Hunky Dory" but now I'm picking up a touch of Prince, especially in the Prince-like title "Die 4 You."  Soulful, smokey, and of course seductive, Hadreas has the ability to convey a world of pain that turns into pleasure. 

There is a minimal sensibility in Hadreas' music, but this album opens up to other textures.  The strings (not sure if they are real instrumentation are not) lurks like a creature from the deepest ocean, and about to nab the swimmer above.  The aural landscape is dense.   I have listened to this album on a streaming device, and that medium really doesn't capture the tone that one hears on vinyl.  Producer Blake Mills and Hadreas made a thick soup in this mix, and one can take a spoon and choose whatever taste they wish.   It's there in the deep textures of the mix.  

Hadreas is a throwback to the image of the glam gay orientated 1970s.  Not in a retro sense, but as a reminder of another world besides the overtures to the straight or conservative world that the gay community has orientated itself towards in recent times.   A beautiful man making haunting ballads and noise at the same time.  I'm a fan.