The Perfume Genius will release the new LP, Too Bright, on Matador Records on September 23.
Hear new single “Queen” now: http://po.st/PGQYT
Over the course of two astonishing albums, Perfume Genius, aka Seattle native Mike Hadreas, cemented his place as a singer-songwriter of rare frankness, with achingly emotional songs that offered empathy and hope, rather than judgment or handwringing. Sparse, gorgeous and with Hadreas’ quavering vocals often only accompanied by piano, they were uncommonly beautiful tales of a life lived on the dark side – scarred, brutalized, yet ultimately reclaimed.
Too Bright, however, is something else altogether. Less self-conscious, and less concerned with storytelling and easily-digested melodies, it is a bold and unpredictably quixotic exploration of what Hadreas calls “an underlying rage that has slowly been growing since age ten and has just begun to bubble up”. Recorded with Adrian Utley of Portishead and featuring John Parish on several tracks, it is a stunning about-face which brings to mind audacious career-shift albums like Kate Bush’s The Dreaming or Scott Walker’s Tilt, records which walk the tightrope between pure songwriting and overt experimentation.
Catch him live here:
August
1 – OFF Festival, Katowice, Poland
2 – Visions Festival, London
27 – Feeerieen, Brussels, Belgium
28 – Mas Mas, Cardigan, UK
30 – End of the Road Festival, Salisbury
 
September
 
1 – Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow
2 – Band on the Wall, Manchester
3 – Ramsgate Music Hall, Ramsgate
7 – MITO SettembreMusica, Milan, Italy
8 – Circolo degli Artisti, Rome, Italy
9 – Locomotiv Club, Bologna, Italy
26 – Urban Lounge – Salt Lake City, UT 
27 – Hi Dive – Denver, CO 
29 – Riot Room – Kansas City, MO 
30 – Triple Rock Social Club – Mpls, MN 
 
October
 
1 – Lincoln Hall – Chicago, IL 
2 – Magic Stick – Detroit, MI 
4 – Virgin Mobile Mod Club – Toronto, ON 
6 – Brighton Music Hall – Allston, MA 
7 – Music Hall of Wmsburg – Brooklyn, NY
8 – Johnny Brenda’s – Philadelphia, PA 
9 – The Hamilton – Washington, DC 
10 – Cat’s Cradle Back Room – Carrboro, NC 
11 – Drunken Unicorn – Atlanta, GA 
13 – Three Links – Dallas, TX 
14 – The Parish – Austin, TX 
16 – Club Congress – Tucson, AZ 
17 – Soda Bar – San Diego, CA 
19 – Roxy Theatre – Los Angeles, CA 
21 – The Independent – San Francisco, CA 
22 – Harlow’s – Sacramento, CA 
24 – Mississippi Studios – Portland, OR 
25 – Neptune Theatre – Seattle, WA 
 
November
 
11 – La Maroquinerie, Paris
12 – Exil, Zurich
13 – Le Romandie, Lausanne,
14 – Depot, Leuven
16 – Vega, Copenhagen
17 – Lido, Berlin
18 – Pret-a-ecouter Festival, Heidelberg
19 – Bitterzoet, Amsterdam
21 – Le Guess Who Festival, Utrecht
23 – Caves, Edinburgh
24 – The Wardrobe, Leeds
25   – Oobleck, Birmingham
26 – The Haunt, Brighton
27 – Islington Assembly Hall, London