News: Is there anything this man cannot do? Perfume Genius announces new album & short film

Not content with embarking on a global tour and releasing a new album, Perfume Genius (Mike Hadreas) is also set to star in a short film to mark the release of his album, ‘Ugly Season’.

‘Ugly Season’ which will be out on the 17th June via Matador Records / Remote Control Records was written as the accompaniment to the immersive dance piece (‘The Sun Still Burns Here’) that Hadreas developed with choreographer Kate Wallich. The Seattle Theatre Group and Mass MoCA commissioned the project and it was performed via residencies in Seattle, Minneapolis, New York City and Boston throughout 2019. ‘The Sun Still Burns Here’ received widespread critical acclaim.

According to Pitchfork, “It’s the sound of dancefloor euphoria, the colour of lights flashing as you move through a crowd, the touch of skin damp and warm against everyone else’s.”

Perfume Genius previously released two songs, ‘Pop Song‘ and ‘Eye in the Wall’ off ‘The Sun Still Burns Here’ but with the release of the album, fans will be able to hear the music from the dance project in its entirety.

For the short film, Hadreas has collaborated with Jacolby Satterwhite who is well-known visual artist, known for his work that fuses live video, 3-D animation, drawing and print-making.

“This project is the genesis of a whole new direction that I’m taking, one that I’ve been thinking about within this endemic culture, since 2020,” says Satterwhite. “Mike and I are both writing scripts. My visual narrative serendipitously mirrors the lyrical direction in his music; it’s a rare, like-minded bond. It’s a creation myth. How do you architecturally mold and render an idealised version of utopia? It’s about making something that you desire so beyond your scope that it’s hard to grapple into a concrete form.”

And if a tour, an album and a short film are not enough, Perfume Genius has also published ‘Immediately‘, which is a book companion to the new album featuring iconic portraits of Perfume Genius by celebrated French photographer Camille Vivier.

The term ‘genius’ is bandied about loosely these days, but in the case of Mike Hadreas it is a very apt description of an artist who seems to excel no matter the medium. It is quite ironic that he came up with the ‘Perfume Genius’ moniker for a MySpace page back in 2008 when he was still an unknown artist. Almost like he knew.

Pre-order / pre-save Perfume Genius – Ugly Season here.