Ugly Season - Perfume Genius: Review
Perfume Genius
is the musical project of Mike Hadreas who has been one of the most acclaimed artists in indie and art pop over the past decade. After making lo-fi indie music early in his career Mike teamed up with producer Blake Mills and has shifted to a much more instrumentally dense and immaculate style. Much of Ugly Season has existed for a few years now including a pair of singles and the music from the record was used to soundtrack both a dance piece and accompanying short film.
Review By Lav:
If you've been following me on the blog or on YouTube or really anywhere you likely know that I love Perfume Genius. I dished out tons of acclaim to the two most recent Perfume Genius records and for all his material before that, I'm granting praise through the 10 year retrospective series. Given how much I love Perfume Genius and how much I loved the original two singles released from this record a few years ago I was very excited for this record. It won't be a surprise to anybody that I enjoyed it quite a bit.
Let's talk about those singles first because all the way in 2019 I threw out some massive praise for them. Eye In The Wall is one of my favorite Perfume Genius songs to date with dramatic swells murky tribal drums and a wandering mystical composition. By comparison, Pop Song fits in closer with the rest of Perfume Genius' discography as a vibrant pop song with a beautiful instrumental progression. It also has some absolutely irresistible refrains and splashes of electronics that add a lot of texture to the song.
This record has an aesthetic that I would describe as eerie and unsettling throughout from it's album cover to the accompanying film and definitely in its combination of expansive mixes with intimate instrumentation. Two of the longer songs on the record do this perfectly starting with Herem, a stark chamber ballad with distant wailing chords and Mike's fragile but beautiful vocals. It reminds me of some of the reserved songs from the previous Perfume Genius record in the way it achieves a stark sound despite there actually being quite a bit going on. The other long song is Hellbent which starts off with a long distorted passage before introducing the precise refrains on its hook, both of which are much more direct and methodical than much of the rest of the album. Though the song is absolutely willing to wander away from it's core refrains to explore other sounds like many of the other tracks here. The track also has one of the most memorable hooks on the record and a heavy, impending sound that I thoroughly enjoy.
Another big highlight is the track Photograph which might be my favorite of the deep cuts. It has deep and rumbling bass and exciting drum hits which are wonderfully realized alongside Mike's angelic refrains. It's one of the most purely catchy songs here but still maintains the album's overarching unsettling sound with gentle haunting background vocals and the persistence of those drums. Teeth is a more conventional style of song that starts out with icy chimes before transitioning into a whole glittery mesh of instrumentation. The best part of the track is the fairy tale effect is creates that reminds me of songs from last year's Spellling album.
By comparison with other Perfume Genius records, this is a much more experimental experience meaning that it summons surreal and abstract songs to work as tone setters throughout. Just A Room is the opening track and features a pretty intoxicating blend of extremely quiet vocals and overwhelming background instrumentation. I wouldn't call it densely populated in fact it's quite spacious but when various sounds do emerge they often overwhelm and dominate the entire mix. It has an unwaveringly cinematic presence but simultaneously a creepy intimacy that gets the record going on a surreal note. The title track blends together a whole number of different vocal styles with these punchy drums that sort of brush in methodically throughout the track. This contrasts with the synth and guitar lines that have a much sweeter demeanor. It's an intriguing song even though it can be difficult to pin down.
There's also a pair of piano tracks starting with Scherzo which sort of serves as a centerpiece for the whole record. Weirdly enough with how much instrumental wandering there is throughout the tracklist it doesn't really stand out and if anything it works to highlight the unsettling vibe of the whole thing. In contrast, the closing track Cenote is much more serene and bright than anything else on the record. While it stands out dramatically it's clearly intended as a moment of finality on the album.
Ugly Season is different from pretty much any other Perfume Genius record. If the story of his career thus far has been transitioning from instrumentally stark singer-songwriter type music to something much more instrumental and extravagant, this is the furthest Mike has drifted under the moniker so far. But with that transition he's maintained the hauntingly angelic vocals and compelling songwriting that have always made him a tour de force artist. He's also continued to collaborate with Blake Mills whose sense of instrumental layering is second to none and who helps this record maintain its deeply unsettling aesthetic throughout while also deploying a refreshing and exciting collection of instrumentation and production. This has all the hallmarks of a great Perfume Genius record, even if it doesn't sound much of anything like any of the ones that came before it. 8/10
This cover is so cool. I love the way that it's abstracted but you can still see the subject perfectly. If you zoom into any certain area it looks like nonsense but when you see it in its entirety it becomes a great image. The colors work well and the pop of red in the face helps bring it all together while the black makes the whole subject pop from the background. Overall this image is really great and just missing some text to potentially fill in the top right corner, but if anything that's a nitpick. I really enjoy this one. 8/10
