Perfume Genius - Queen

It’s the wordless chorus that does the trick. The howl of a dog? The sound of a rocket taking off for launch? It’s hard to tell. Essentially it’s just noise, manipulated and manifested to sound beautiful, not ugly. ‘Queen’ - the first song from Perfume Genius’ new album - exists to marries ugly truths with pure sheen. Vocals are distorted, made to sound like they’re bursting out from the seams. “No family is safe,” barks Mike Hadreas, apparently documenting the feeling he gets when, as a gay man, he walks past strangers in the street.

Here, he finds his killer touch. On previous LPs, there was a sense that Hadreas could break into pieces at any moment; the listener too. This is different. ‘Queen’ doesn’t so much accept the crown as snatch it out from the air.