Perfume Genius

Put Your Back N 2 It

It's fair to say that I’m a little behind with this review, the reason being I have written it about 15 times, then deleted it because it was pretty much just a splurge of utter tripe about how much I’m in love with Mike Hadreas. If this was a porn film I would have ejaculated about 6 times by the time you got to this point…

Life can often throw a series of wild cards at your feet just to keep you on your toes: a friend being so retarded with their opinions and then expressing them to you in an overly condescending way, and actually not even realising how angry they made you. Or learning your greatest animal companion may be very ill after only taking him in for his regular booster jabs. Or witnessing a high speed motorway crash and dragging a man from his upturned car practically unscathed. These situations can result in a variation of opposing moods and emotions being thrown into the mix. Your senses are heightened by the rush of adrenalin as you attempt to calm your self down or cheer yourself up. Enter Perfume Genius, the perfect accompaniment to any extreme mood you could be in, ever. You could be raging with anger and lashing out like a smaller, paler version of the Incredible Hulk with a beer belly and a beard ,smashing fists through bathroom doors, or on your knees in floods of tears, thinking 'Why the fuck is it always me?' Two or three songs into ‘Put your Back N 2 It’ and you would be level pegged and back to a logically-thinking human being.

The first thing you hear is a steadying breath from Mike Hadreas before his twinkling ivories fill your aural spectrum; that and the distant reverb drenched vocals had me hooked pretty early on. You can get to fuck with your polished-to-the-nines, compressed to within an inch of existence albums, which inevitably lose any atmosphere that would be present in its intended state; present here are just pure heartfelt emotions in musical form. ‘Normal’ is the first track to send you spiraling into the foetal position wanting your comfort blanket, the words “Hold my Hand” sung with almost childlike innocence. ‘No Tear’, the shortest track on the album at only 1.49, is a great little number that has a strange lo-fi gospel feel. Is it me or does this guy sound a little Scottish? ‘17’, ‘Take me Home’ and title track ‘Put Your Back N2 It’ are amongst my favorites but ‘Dirge’ takes first prize. There really is something about the fragility of this voice that makes the hairs on your neck stand up, like a cross between Jeff Buckley and Antony Hegarty at their peak.

I have listened to this album far too many times over the past few months. I would recommend anyone of an emotional disposition to hear it, whether you want to feel happy or cry like a baby.

#Albums #Honch #Indie pop #Matador #Perfume Genius #Singer/Songwriter