Perfume Genius Finds the “Glory” in It All
Photo via artist’s website
There’s a moment about a minute into “Me & Angel”, the fourth track of Perfume Genius’ latest stunner, where Mike Hadreas’ throat catches after cooing out a promise to be “on your side.” It can be difficult to tell what sounds on a studio album are intentional or truly accidents left in, but it sounds like such a natural vocal tic, pure emotion escaping as he gets caught up in the naked words he sings. It’s another vulnerable gesture in a career defined by them, but also a return to the simple imperfections that defined the gut-wrenching first two records under the Perfume Genius.
To hear Hadreas tell it, this is intentional. In a recent interview with The Line of Best Fit, he discusses how he wanted to tap back into the rawness of his songwriting on Learning and Put Your Back N 2 It, and how to mix that with the beauty of his arrangements with the full band that the project has evolved into over the course of a decade. Glory grapples with how to confront growing older and coexist with your demons, an unfortunately rare topic in most queer art. “Can I get off without reliving history and let every just sing to itself / Can I move on without knowing specifics while memories hum like a hive shaken out?,” Mike sings on opener and lead single “It’s a Mirror,” a reminder that even seven albums and forty five years in, some feelings never disappear in quite the way you might hope.
This is no surprise given Mike Hadreas’ experience living as a gay man and how openly his music has openly tackled every aspect of queer life. Too Bright preened at living outside expected roles for men and women, while No Shape and Set My Heart on Fire Immediately were rapturous in their expressions of desire, love, and fluidity. Here he tackles it all, complicating those larger-than-life statements on life and death with the reality that these are not so much things that get conquered, but learn to confront day by day. On “Clean Heart” he openly wrestles with the idea of aging and dying. He hides and bargains, before finding beauty in the thought within the chorus and refrains, imagining it in metaphysical terms: “It’s only dust / Kicked up and lost / Finding an end in itself.” By the song’s finish, he’s come to a sort of peace with reaching for the ideal in the track’s name.
Despite its title, there’s little in the way of easy euphoria on Glory. Where the last two major records under the Perfume Genius moniker threaded fluid art pop with moments of pure ecstasy (see "Slip Away" or "On the Floor"), Hadreas instead opts to mingle the moments of relief with everyday dread. The record begins on a confident note with the southern rock explosions of “No Front Teeth,” a striking duet with Aldous Harding, and the down to earth opener, but that sonic dress-up unravels with each baroque confession. By the closing title track, we wind up in a place that directly echoes the stark sound of those first two records: Hadreas straining his falsetto at the piano and finding comfort wherever he can.
It is far from a linear dance to that endpoint though, and by no means a bleak affair. Glory might just be their most plainly gorgeous album yet, which is saying something. It melds the alien compositions of 2022’s Ugly Season with the living, breathing band that has made Perfume Genius an unmissable live act to create an album full of flourishes guaranteed to make any listener not made of stone swoon. They accompany some of Hadreas’ most vivid images of his internal world, whether that’s the gorgeous harmonies that rush with him to comfort injured football players on the slow burn of “Full On” or the way the guitar and bass twitch as time shared between friends turns bloody in “Hanging Out.”
That dichotomy between pure joy and terror lies at the heart of the record. There are so many beautiful expressions of love tempered by some impending doom or threat: “Left For Tomorrow” is gently obsessed with the possibility of losing those closest to you or a nervous encounter with Jason and another mystery figure on “Capezio.” Hadreas’ beautiful falsetto is recast as something unnerving as the sensuality of the scene is cast in darkness by the reveal of a camera at the song’s end. He never forgets to pay attention to the beauty in these things either: for all its dread, “Left for Tomorrow” still glides with such grace that it imbues those worries with a resolve to reach for loved ones while they are still around.
Highlighting the moments of security alongside the horror is important. Growing up in a nation so dominated by religion and patriotism, there’s a certain idea that takes hold about “glory” - that it comes from suffering, and it’s one that compounds itself in art. The truest moment of catharsis on the record comes on “In a Row” as he untangles the romanticizing of pain and trauma that often gets baked into creatives through hero worship, internalized ideas, or whatever other means. An urgent piano soundtracks the image of Hadreas stuck in a trunk, where all he can do in a dangerous situation is “think of all the poems [he’ll] get out” as the chorus rips the song wide open. It’s a revealing, self-flagellating thought, but a freeing one too - taking the fangs away from the too-common myth that great writing must come from some great well of misery.
Queer art is often marked by some amount of violence, fear, or at least tragedy. It’s an easy trend to understand: marginalized groups are unfortunately quite susceptible to all three. There’s beauty in purging the bile onto a canvas, but especially as it becomes easier for those communities to become physically isolated, these ideas can seep into younger audiences in the wrong way. It can be life-changing to see the darker parts of your reality reflected back at you, but life-saving to hear a possible future too. So I return to “Me & Angel,” that tender piano ballad penned for Alan Wyffels, the partner and bandmate that has been at Mike Hadreas’ side since the start of Perfume Genius. Right after the break in Mike’s voice that I described comes the chorus: “There's a halo that'll always hold its shape / That's the core I'm leaning on… / If he's an angel? He's an angel, he's an angel.” Maybe there is some glory to be found in the suffering, but the glory you find in comfort is just as worth immortalizing. After all, what’s more glorious than an angel?
