Album Review: Perfume Genius - Too Bright

15 September 2014 | 12:48 pm | Guido Farnell

"Compelling listening."

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Mike Hadreas’ latest Perfume Genius album is also his best. The album has already spawned Queen, a big song that feels like a head-on collision in slow motion between Hadreas’ seething rage and homophobic attitude.

Working with both Adrian Utley and John Parish, the Genius’ piano ballads now come wrapped in layers of shimmering synths. The understated darkness about Perfume Genius’ songs lingers but it seems those battle scars are healing as he joyously begins to celebrate inner strength and personal freedom on the title track with exquisitely poetic lyrics. Compelling listening.