Perfume Genius - Too Bright

There’s an intoxicating power to ‘Too Bright’. It’s especially apparent in ‘Queen’, Perfume Genius’ haughty, sashaying anthem about possessing an identity that causes destruction by simply moving through the world. Although Hadreas has said it’s a song specifically about social “gay panic,” the feeling of not fitting in and not knowing what to feel is an emotion that everybody can surely recognise and identify with. ‘Too Bright’ pulls this stunt over and over, and Mike Hadreas has a potent, emotive draw that pulls everything into his narrative mercilessly. No matter which direction he approaches from, he seems to pour his entire self into every line.

‘Too Bright’ is a varied album with many different layers and directions within it. Lairy post-punk clatters and drizzles through ‘Grid’, while ‘Longpig’ is euphoric and musky, like bodies packed closely under strobe lighting at a basement nightclub. The title track is so delicately and painstakingly constructed that it seems to float on air with papery wings. There’s a fast pattern emerging here, which applies to the entire album; ‘Too Bright’ is a diverse, multi-faceted and all-absorbing slice of sheer mastery.

Tags: Album Reviews, Reviews, Perfume Genius, Turnstile