Perfume Genius - Glory (2025)

Mike Hadreas, aka Perfume Genius, has glorious range and he's showing it off on his seventh album, which once again teams the Seattle-raised singer-songwriter with producer Blake Mills. That includes his singular voice—able to evoke visceral feeling whether whispering or baying—as well as his genre-bending experimentation: raw-edged folk, synth pop, baroque glam, countrified ballads. "Dion" is moody and snail-paced yet as theatrical as a Puccini opera, with wave-making cymbal and earthquaking bass drum from the legendary Jim Keltner. "Full On" feels particularly lush—with Hadreas' voice swelling like a spring bloom over a trilling flute. "In a Row" plays out to a jazzy, nervous-cat rhythm as a breathy angel's chorus guards Hadreas' back. "Me & Angel," a gossamer tribute to his longtime romantic and musical partner Alan Wyffels, is gorgeous and otherworldly. Striding confidently, the great "It's a Mirror" has the rich simplicity of a Harvest-era Neil Young and Crazy Horse song. Despite its big sound—with Meg Duffy of Hand Habits on guitar—the lyrics are wildly intimate, scrutinizing every inch of one's soul. "Can I get off without reliving history … Can I move on without knowing specifics/ While memories hum like a hive shaken out?" Hadreas sings, sounding better than ever, a narrator weighing his own perceived shortcomings. He's explained that the withering line "What do I get out of being established?/ I still run and hide when a man's at the door" is about his onstage persona's aplomb colliding with his at-home incertitude. The song metaphorically builds to a shimmer, then shudders at the end. There's duality, too, in "Clean Heart"—its percussion like a throbbing, bloody heartbeat contrasted by the froth of light-and-bright chimes, and then Keltner booms in with grand, airy drums that blast the whole thing open. New Zealand singer-songwriter Aldous Harding makes an angelic cameo on "No Front Teeth," which also boasts calamitous jams. There are, of course, fragile moments of absolute heartbreak, too. Hushed "Left for Tomorrow" sounds unsettled, the bubbling melody and instrumentation making their own excitable plans even as Hadreas sings calmly, with sanctity, about the passing of someone you love desperately. And with "Capezio," he revives one of his most evocative characters, Jason, who we got to know on the old songs "Jason"—about a young man coming to terms with his queer sexuality—and "Hellbent." Like Hadreas keeps returning to this awkward, unsure lover, the song's persistent low guitar repeatedly dives in retreat—only to be pulled back to the surface each time.

TRACKLIST

1. - It's a Mirror
2. - No Front Teeth
3. - Clean Heart
4. - Me & Angel
5. - Left For Tomorrow
6. - Full On
7. - Capezio
8. - Dion
9. - In a Row
10. - Hanging Out
11. - Glory