ALBUM REVIEW: Perfume Genius 'Too Bright'

Rating:

Too Bright is the latest album to be released by the Seattle based solo artist, otherwise known as Mike Hadreas. This latest offering comes after his first two albums, Learning (June 2010) and Put Your Back N 2 It (February 2012) which are both highly recommended. To me, his music gives off a subtle vibe of the likes of James Blake and Laura Marling. His latest album gives a thirty three minute offering to the listener of pure beauty, not built up of large guitar riffs or loud vocals; instead it’s a far more stripped back affair with tremulous vocals supporting melodious piano rhythms.

Despite being released on a predominantly indie/rock music label (Matador Records) Perfume Geniuses’ album cannot be really restricted to any one genre of music. Songs such as ‘Decline’ give off a very mellow vibe, just Mike and his piano in harmony, whereas tracks such as ‘Longpig’ (personal favourite) blend in a more electro sounding sound, with duelling synthesisers to accompany calming vocals. Tracks such as ‘Grind’ give of an almost tribal aspect to them with a repetitive bass drum beat accompanied by a chanting chorus, giving the track a very powerful feeling. Mike himself creates a enticing echo with his vocals, his piano keys are short and time lapsed, similar to the vocal style of classics such as Nina Simone and Rufus Wainwright, and even at times throughout the album, John Michael Stipe.

Mike’s music can be described as antagonistic in formation but more than often placid and calm in delivery. The use of synthesisers in this album is a step forward from pervious works and shows that Mike is progressing and becoming more confident to step out of his comfort zone of music. Having already released the music video for his track ‘Queen’ from the album, Mike has given the viewers and insight into the psychodrama that this album offers. The video in question contains an automaton Elvis Presley impersonator, huge shellfish and “free bird” cheerleaders. The video was a hint that Mike had been making some sort of breakthrough in the industry in terms of popularity, the album confirmed this. Highlighting Mike’s innovative piano playing and relaying his sweet and poised vocals, mixed on certain tracks with dominantly percussion based instrumentals and reverberated tenors. Combined it creates an album to get yourself excited over, an album that can stir up the music scene and one that can elevate Mike Hadreas to a wider audience.

Mike is still trying to develop himself and address how he would be able to perform this as a live stage performance, he needs time to address how to best approach what he describes as the, “extremities” of his music. To duplicate all the layers for the Too Bright album Mike would have to either rely on many pre-recorded tracks to aid his performance or create space on stage to support a relatively large ensemble of musicians. Once this issue is addressed the album can be toured! And so it should be because Too Bright offers a great deal of encouragement and delivers a fantastic quality of sound from Mike Hadreas. Mike is developing in a way suited to himself rather than pandering to the mass audiences of popular music and for me this comes across well in the album, giving it more depth and increasing its credibility. A highly recommended album that has a bit of everything for the listener.