Ugly Season
Mike Hadreas’ music as Perfume Genius has always walked an interesting line between experimentalism and accessibility—pop for listeners more interested in “pop” as a concept than a reality. Written as a companion to a dance piece by choreographer Kate Wallich, *Ugly Season* effectively inverts the balance, situating Hadreas’ hallmarks—his romanticism, his expressivity, his startling, sometimes violent sense of drama—in the context of something that plays more like a symphony or soundtrack than a set of discrete songs. The title is a feint, of course: This is extremely beautiful music even in its dissonance, from the Philip Glass-like grid of “Teeth” and the spiderweb instrumental of “Scherzo” to the industrial roar of “Hellbent.” And just in case, he gives you something called “Pop Song”—which isn’t one, of course.
The music of Ugly Season was written for Perfume Genius and choreographer Kate Wallich’s immersive dance piece, The Sun Still Burns Here. The work was commissioned by the Seattle Theatre Group and Mass MoCA and was performed via residencies in Seattle, Minneapolis, New York City and Boston throughout 2019. During this time, Perfume Genius shared two of the dance project’s compositions – ‘Pop Song’ and ‘Eye in the Wall’. “It’s the sound of dancefloor euphoria,” said Pitchfork. “The color of lights flashing as you move through a crowd, the touch of skin damp and warm against everyone else’s.” Now the entirety of the project’s original music can be heard in Ugly Season. The album was produced by Perfume Genius and GRAMMY-winning producer and long-time collaborator Blake Mills and was created in collaboration with Hadreas’ long-time partner Alan Wyffels.
The expansive spirit of Mike Hadreas’ terrific new album conjures and reimagines a mode of experimental pop music that is ecstatic, healing, modern, and queer.
Mike Hadreas has always had an experimental streak, but with this sixth album the artist allows himself to embrace the avant-garde
Fans of Hadreas’s work thus far may miss his more conventional vocal performances and pop-craft, particularly given the accessibility of his last release, 2020’s Set My Heart on Fire Immediately. Even approached as a free-standing project, however, Ugly…
Mike Hadreas and Alan Wyffels continue their hot streak with producer Blake Mills on an album that rewards patience.
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Perfume Genius' sixth album is the biggest stylistic change of their career so far, though not an altogether surprising one.
For Mike Hadreas, also known as Perfume Genius, every new album acts as a sort of sonic transformation. Few artists have evolved more artistically while maintaining such a high level of consistency and intrigue.
Perfume Genius – let's get physical! Ugly Season is an organic, weirdly satisfying new record from Mike Hadreas
'Ugly Season' captures the visceral and tender dimensions of dance, pushing the boundaries of Perfume Genius's artistry. Read our review.
Michael Hadreas of Perfume Genius delivers his most experimental, wandering, and gorgeously unkempt album to date with 'Ugly Season'.
Ugly Season by Perfume Genius Album Review by Sam Franzini. The multi-artist's full-length drops on June 17 via Matador Records
If you were able to see this far into the future of Michael Hadreas’ Perfume Genius, and were able to foresee his music evolving from the intimate, threadbare compositions that found their home in his first two albums, Learning and Put Your Back N 2 It, then congratulations: you’re probably a PreCog.
Given its origins as a score for a contemporary dance piece, it’s easy to label Ugly Season as not a ‘normal’ Perfume Genius album; to sub-consciously categorise it as something of a side-piece or curiosity. If it had remained solely as Mike Hadreas’ soundtrack to choreographer Kate Wallich’s work The Sun Still Burns Here then
Buckley and Bernard Butler offer baroque folk, while Foals quit the ‘doom soup’ for sunlit uplands and Perfume Genius enters Ugly Season
The usually hypnotic music of Perfume Genius has been replaced by wearying self-indulgence