Perfume Genius (Mike Hadreas) talks with Pop Music Critic Aidin Vaziri.
Though Mike Hadreas, the Seattle singer-songwriter who performs under the name Perfume Genius, often appears to be aging in reverse in his pictures, he feels like there’s room for improvement. “Sometimes they forget to Photoshop me and I take umbrage,” he says. “There are apps — move that slider up!”
Hadreas, 32, says he worked closely with the art department at his label Matador to perfect the cover art for his third and latest album, “Too Bright,” on which he appears with his hair and skin aglow: “I wanted them to make me look plastic,” he says. “I wanted to look fake.”
Defense mechanism
An armchair psychologist might suggest that casting himself as a perfect image might seem like a defense mechanism for Hadreas, whose early life was dotted with hardship — from the homophobic bullies who harassed him at school and assaulted him so badly that he ended up in the hospital, to enduring his parents’ crumbling marriage while inheriting their substance abuse problems.
On the first two Perfume Genius albums — 2010’s “Learning” and 2012’s “Put Your Back N 2 It” — which were made in his mother’s living room, Hadreas sang about his troubles over sparsely arranged songs that matched his delicate voice with simple piano melodies. But the introspective tone of the music didn’t always capture the intensity of the words that came out of his mouth.
“Too Bright” offers a dramatic change of direction. Produced by Adrian Utley of Portishead and Ali Chant, who engineered Perfume Genius’ last record, in Bristol, England, there is a profusion of industrial synthesizer sounds, guitar drones and vocal effects that make for disorienting listening.
On the first single, “Queen,” electronic squelches and a marching band rhythm accompany Hadreas as he howls sarcastically at his tormentors, “Don’t you know your queen?/ Cracked, peeling, riddled with disease?/ Don’t you know me?/ No family is safe when I sashay.”
Calling from rehearsals just a few days before he set off on a twomonth-long international tour, Hadreas says the expansive, explosive sound on “Too Bright” is more the result of natural evolution rather than a bigger strategy.
“I didn’t try to make a big departure,” he says. “It’s just that the old way I was writing wasn’t working. It didn’t feel as brave or powerful as it used to be. It didn’t feel like I was stepping up. I usually sang about things that are darker and stories that could be uncomfortable, while the music has been pleasant and warm and pretty. This time around, I was into the sound communicating as much as the lyrics were.”
Modern dread
That’s where Utley came in. Portishead, after all, perfected the sound of modern dread in the 1990s with its bleak torch songs and lopsided beats. “I didn’t have to explain things to him too much,” Hadreas says. “I didn’t have to tell him what knobs to twiddle.”
Even though the album clocks in at just over a half hour, not a second is wasted. Despite the slow tempo, songs like “My Body” and “I Decline” are stuffed with alternately ominous and otherworldly effects.
“I used to play some chords and obsess over some lyrics,” Hadreas says. “This time I thought about the whole deal. I wanted to sing things that were harder. I wanted to make music that I didn’t think I was capable of making. I wanted it to be bad-ass.”
For such an unusualsounding album, “Too Bright” has managed to nudge Perfume Genius beyond its cult status to the brink of a breakthrough. No one is more surprised than Hadreas.
‘I hope for success’
“When I’m writing I don’t necessarily think about how the music is going to be received,” he says. “I don't even think about it being received at all.” He pauses. “Of course, afterwards I hope everybody likes it. I hope for success.”
Part of that is becom-
“I usually sang about things that are
darker and stories that could be
uncomfortable, while the music has
been pleasant and warm and pretty.
This time around, I was into the sound
communicating as much as the lyrics
were.”
Mike Hadreas
ing more involved with his stage shows, which used to just see him seated behind the piano. Wearing bright red lipstick and nail polish to match, on the current tour he steps out of his comfort zone.
Accompanied by a three-piece live band, Hadreas is finally learning how to step into the spotlight.
“I never thought about going onstage and performing,” he says. “I knew I was up in front of people, but now I really need to magnify certain parts of myself. I thought I was being phony at first, but now I feel like I’m distilling parts of myself.”
There’s just one problem. “When people come to the shows they get the real me, who’s this old Gollum-y creature,” he says.