There’s a poised, almost classical beauty to the track, especially as a melody emerges around the mid-point, pulling you in like a spell.īut there’s a sense of restless inertia that comes with holding onto a dream for so long: “I lick the day/ Like salt from some dream/ And bright colored rings/ I gather all night/ And snuff out the gleam/ ‘Til no spirit shines,” he sings on ‘Some Dream’. There’s no better example of this than highlight ‘Moonbend’, a breathtakingly stunning ballad in which Hadreas’ multi-tracked vocals mesmerize with their intoxicating subtlety, like a hazy presence tiptoeing in the dark.

The sound of the record makes it feel like you’re floating across a starry night, rendering it Perfume Genius’ most nocturnal record yet. There’s a spaciousness to the record that gives it a dreamlike quality, which is further reinforced by Mills’ organic, mellifluous production. “Chain me to the dream forever,” he sings against ethereal harp arpeggios on ‘Leave’, his voice warped, then implores: “Begging like a dog/ Ignore me.” You can feel that newfound sense of lightness on the danceable ‘On the Floor’ or the dreamy, country-tinged ‘Without You’, even as those tracks evoke the kind of physical yearning that none can embody with the same unquenchable pathos as Hadreas. Having come out the other side untethered and free, he continues to explore the complexities of queer identity and sexuality in an intelligent yet affecting manner, but this time with less of a weight on his shoulders. That’s not necessarily a bad thing – after the resolution that No Shape brought forth, Hadreas has found his footing, which leads to his most assured and direct project yet. No Shape sought to transcend those limits – a gloriously triumphant release intended to sound like his “big American record”, featuring impeccable production from Blake Mills, with whom he reunites for Set My Heart on Fire Immediately.īut rather than igniting a new fire, Hadreas’ latest studio effort feels more like he’s dancing delicately around ones that are already blazing. With that record, Mike Hadreas shifted away from the spare piano ballads of Put Your Back N 2 It, taking his sound in a bold new direction that stared defiantly at the outside world while externalizing deeply-rooted conflicts surrounding the fragility of the self and the confines of the body.

Ever since 2014’s revelatory Too Bright, every Perfume Genius record has felt like a leap.

Me against the world album genius