perfume genius set my heart on fire review

Set My Heart On Fire Immediately may be indulgent, but it is intoxicating in its sprawling approach. Mike Hadreas takes inspiration from classic pop, drawing on Cyndi Lauper and Elvis, but deconstructs the sounds in his own understated way. Perfume Genius – ‘Set My Heart On Fire Immediately’ review: ... Mike Hadreas’ previous album as Perfume Genius, 2017’s ‘No Shape’, felt something like catharsis. Wildly ambitious pop tour de force by LA’s Perfume Genius, echoes shades of classic rock and pop via mutated refractions like Mark Hollis, Autre Ne Veut, Cindy Lee. Mike Hadreas’ previous album as Perfume Genius, 2017’s ‘No Shape’, felt something like catharsis. Siobhan Kane. When Hadreas abandons the imagined world to confront physical reality, his palette darkens. About “Set My Heart on Fire Immediately” “Can disruption be beautiful? Genres: Art Pop. Read our interview with Perfume Genius in Attitude's Sex & Sexuality issue, out now. Reaching in and wilfully emboldening himself, on ‘Set My Heart On Fire Immediately’ - his fifth LP as Perfume Genius - … The Brightest Flame: Perfume Genius. Those techniques remain, but he also dips to craggy lows, enhancing the record’s texture with layers of silt and grit. To be shattered and whole with.” Indeed this sense of duality is at the heart of the record. The songs expand and contract, one minute blasting open with the melodrama of a Roy Orbison ballad, the next zooming in with surgical detail as Hadreas describes ribs that fold like fabric, a tear-streaked face, an instance of post-coital petty theft. On early single “Describe,” his voice seems to emerge from a crust of topsoil. Mike Hadreas’ fifth album glides between sublime melodies and grimy, guttural dissonance, embracing the joys and burdens of the human body and its innumerable, intangible yearnings. Mike Hadreas’ first album of the new decade sees Perfume Genius embarking upon some very expansive artistic paths. “Without You” chronicles an absence as “a blurry shape” that’s “just enough to find a trace.” In “On the Floor,” he attempts to recall that shape once more. “On the Floor,” the album’s sweet and chewy pop center, bounces atop Pino Palladino’s elastic bassline, so thick it sounds like he’s wailing on industrial-strength bungee cords. Perfume Genius Gloriously Loses Control On Set My Heart On Fire Immediately Mike Hadreas’ contorted fifth album finds both pain and pleasure in the body-brain divide Gordon Rutherford reviews this genre-busting epic for Louder Than War. His third album, 2014’s shimmering ‘Too Bright’ brought a new sense of dynamism and defiance. “Leave” marries these two approaches beautifully. Most are moving mood pieces with intricate melodies, while some are bland and skippable. The effect is sprawling and dynamic, made all the more intriguing by Hadreas’ agile vocal range. 'Set my Heart On Fire Immediately' is out now. Ultimately Hadreas has, with this album, proven his own hypothesis: you don’t necessarily have to blow things up to move forward. Set My Heart on Fire Immediately, an Album by Perfume Genius. Watch Queue Queue. Over the past decade, Mike Hadreas has transfigured from confessional balladeer to glittering prima donna to our baroque-pop bard. The slow, contemplative songs on Set My Heart on Fire Immediately are hit or miss. In the process he’d become a subversive new pop presence. He may have dialled the swagger back a little for album five, but his music still simmers with intensity, rather than bursting into flames. You need to care so much about your art to pack this much meaning into not only the words, but the tones that adorn and deliver them. Halfway through, howling dogs and unintelligible whispers besiege the song from its edges as the dream succumbs to nightmare. The title is quintessentially Perfume Genius – blisteringly dramatic, and knowingly arch. If No Shape endeavored to transcend the body, Set My Heart on Fire Immediately embraces the joys and burdens of human anatomy. Of course, revelation is nothing new when it … “Give me your weight, I’m solid/Hold me up, I’m falling down,” he bellows. At the time, Hadreas told NME that he wanted things to sound “sort of twisted or fucked-up” and had been inspired by and paying homage to icons such as Kate Bush, Prince and Queen. Listen to our Best New Music playlist on Spotify and Apple Music. View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the 2020 Vinyl release of Set My Heart On Fire Immediately on Discogs. Perfume Genius Gloriously Loses Control On Set My Heart On Fire Immediately Mike Hadreas’ contorted fifth album finds both pain and pleasure in the body-brain divide It might be his most masculine song ever, chronicling a sexual exchange that alternately yields to strength and conquers it. Here, then, Hadreas’ explores more organic, nuanced sounds. © 2020 NME is a member of the media division of BandLab Technologies. More on Perfume Genius Perfume Genius – Set My Heart On Fire Immediately Perfume Genius – No Shape Perfume Genius @ Royal Festival Hall, London Perfume Genius – Too Bright Festival Review… Perfume Genius: Set My Heart on Fire Immediately review – exceptional. Set My Heart on Fire Immediately is a spacious and beautiful offering, but also one that would have been better served by more moments of cautiousless joy like ‘Nothing at All’. Perfume Genius Beautifully Maps His Desires on ‘Set My Heart on Fire Immediately’ The fifth album from Mike Hadreas is his most ambitious yet Two releases later, we’re presented with the polished artist we know today; yet his gaze continued to search off to the side. This video is unavailable. It’s robust and intense, echoing the theme song from 1982’s Conan the Barbarian (itself a celebration of flesh). Hadreas’ voice is pitched-down and scuffed, backlit by beams of violin and twinkling keys. Set My Heart on Fire Immediately feels more grounded, both in the earth and in the flesh. Hadreas’ first two records (2010’s ‘Learning’ and 2012’s ‘Put Your Back N 2 It’) were marked by their emotionally raw and affecting ballads as well as the singer’s tender, tremulous delivery. The world's defining voice in music and pop culture since 1952. Set My Heart On Fire Immediately.The album title is overly dramatic, a little funny, and also deeply serious. ‘No Shape’ saw the completion of this creative 180, trading the minimalism of old with newfound maximalism. He added: “I’m starting to realise that maybe there’s another way. As on No Shape, there are skyward string arrangements and sparkling harpsichord passages, but Hadreas and his crew also introduce harmonium, grumbling synthesizer, and rust-worn electric guitar. Set My Heart On Fire Immediately.The album title is overly dramatic, a little funny, and also deeply serious. Can it, through new ways of embodying joy and power, become a way of thinking and living in a world burning at the edges? Mills’ synth guitar riffs chirp and belch to Matt Chamberlain’s peppery snare, evoking a contemporary translation of Chic. On their own, these complementary vantage points are potent; in concert, they are grand, filmic, and tactile all at once. When we were introduced to Perfume Genius in 2010, Hadreas’ eyes were fixed to the floor, his mouth covered. Released 15 May 2020 on Matador (catalog no. He laments the passage of time in a trembling existential opus, then squeezes us into a bedroom to witness a clumsy, tortured hookup. On his terrific fifth album Set My Heart on Fire Immediately, Hadreas emerges with all new contours. Fri, May 15, 2020, 09:44. Set My Heart On Fire Immediately is the fifth studio album from Perfume Genius. It feels as indebted to Kate Bush as it is to Frank Ocean, and yet really it doesn’t sound much like anything other than itself. His multi-tracked vocals braid and tangle in the mix as he illustrates two sounds similarly entwined: “No bells anymore,” he sings, “just my stomach rumbling.” It’s a loaded couplet, hinting at his lifelong battle with Crohn’s disease, and a gesture toward Perfume Genius’ two greatest fascinations: The erosion of the body and the curative properties of love. Lead single ‘Describe’, meanwhile, is drenched in distortion before the song gives way to an ambient stillness. Set My Heart On Fire Immediately, however, marks the final The beatnik-titled Set My Heart on Fire Immediately is another evolution for Perfume Genius; flirting with Americana and packed with older session musicians who’ve played for Dylan, Springsteen and The Who. Set My Heart On Fire Immediately is the work of an artist who subverts every trope he comes across, and yet it is incredibly accessible. Guided once more by the meticulous work of producer Blake Mills and an expert troupe of musicians, including experimental saxophonist Sam Gendel and renowned session drummer Jim Keltner, Hadreas glides between sublime melodies and grimy, guttural dissonance. It is openly expressive and emotional, as we follow Hadreas through fantastic highs and dark and dissociative lows. Perfume Genius Set My Heart on Fire Immediately Matador 15.05.20 In 10 years and five albums, Mike Hadreas, aka Perfume Genius , has built not only a flawless career as a peerless singer-songwriter, but a complete queer lexicon all his own. It’s a coming of age moment for Mike Hadreas as he fulfils all that early promise in his best album to date. Perfume Genius’ Set My Heart On Fire Immediately, uses all of these, but also plays with 80s pop and grunge in surprisingly fun, beautiful, and accessible album. Moments of exuberance sit next to those of calm. Anyone expecting another big and bright pop record, though, will be surprised. He even goes a bit Elvis on the mournful ‘One More Try’. On earlier LPs, his voice pierced through the clouds with a clean note or a vulnerable falsetto. “I’m trying/But still I close my eyes,” he sings, “The dreaming/Bringing his face to mind.” He never quite gets ahold of the complete image—it dissolves just before it’s fully realized. (Pitchfork earns a commission from purchases made through affiliate links on our site.). When Hadreas confesses that there are no more bells, just bodily functions, it feels like a reluctant surrender to the mundane. 'Set My Heart On Fire Immediately' sounds like the culmination of everything Perfume Genius has done up to this point while also sounding like a step forward. Mike Hadreas—under the moniker Perfume Genius—spent the 2010s riding the line between the art pop world and the edges of the mainstream. Pitchfork is the most trusted voice in music. Set My Heart on Fire Immediately is more theatrical and more direct than much of Perfume Genius' earlier work, and revels in the physicality of his music in inspired ways. ‘Set My Heart On Fire Immediately’ (great title) is perhaps the starkest and most powerful realisation of this principle in the Perfume Genius discography. ‘Whole Life’ opens the album with trembling organs and Hadreas intoning, a quiver in his voice, that ‘half of my … Perfume Genius, (aka multi-disciplinary artist/musician Mike Hadreas) is notorious for his experimental ingenuity and whip-smart wit.But on ‘Set My Heart on Fire Immediately’, his fifth studio album, he’s turned in the most confident, compelling songs of his career. Perfume Genius is Mike Hadreas whose talent is taking familiar pop melodies and hooks, sounds people of a certain age remember from Top 40 radio, and elevating them without robbing of them of their joy. In a short essay published alongside the album, writer Ocean Vuong described ‘Set My Heart On Fire Immediately’ as a “soft storm” adding: “This is music to both fight and make love to. Opening track ‘Whole Life’, which sees Hadreas – who, despite his youthful looks, is somehow 38 – ruminate on and ultimately accept the inevitable passing of time, is a rousing ballad reminiscent of country singer Skeeter Davis’ 1962 heartbreak standard ‘The End of the World’. Each Perfume Genius album is a metamorphosis. Each song seemed to unhitch his spirit from the corporeal grind, letting it whip through the air like Fragonard’s swinging lady. The best Perfume Genius moments are with the dynamic upbeat pop songs, jam-packed with hooks and danceable grooves. The former floats on plinked organ, distant percussion, and dashes of viola, a blend that somehow resembles a calypso melody. In a recent interview, the Seattle native explained he’s always been restless for change – “constantly searching for and demanding a big feeling” – but is now becoming less “obsessed with this idea of leaving, and changing and shifting, and just blowing everything up and going”. Those kinds of realisations are key to unravelling Set My Heart On Fire Immediately. He has explained that he wanted the album to be “warm, thoughtful and comforting.” For this he looked to classic-era pop. On Set My Heart On Fire Immediately, Hadreas is, as the greedily and sensuously impatient imperative of its title makes clear, finally demanding more feeling, more experience, more of everything, for himself – and the results make for a revelatory listen. Each Perfume Genius album is a metamorphosis. Both songs find Hadreas in a state of intangible yearning. ‘Without You’ is as evocative as a Springsteen anthem and ‘On The Floor’ represents his take on the joyous pop of Cyndi Lauper. The delicate ‘Leave’ and warped, hypnotic ‘Moonbend’ are as hushed and intimate as Hadreas’ early material; ‘Nothing at All’ is a more full-on affair. Watch Queue Queue Queue Set My Heart on Fire Immediately is both vast and packed with detail. Buy now and take advantage of our best-ever subscription offers: save 45% on the cover price in print, 13 issues for just £19.99 to download to any device. Conversely, “Without You” and “On the Floor” are the album’s most spry compositions. On 2017’s fantastic No Shape, Hadreas sang of liberating the body. Bold, bombastic and experimental, it was eons away from his piano-led lo-fi early work. Over the past decade, Mike Hadreas has transfigured from confessional balladeer to glittering prima donna to our baroque-pop bard. Dirtied, distorted bass and twanging guitar lend a country western flair, and Hadreas’ rugged new look (perhaps a nod to Tom of Finland’s cowboys) enhances the fantasy. The tone is set from the very start. It suggests a return to the sonic effervescence of No Shape, and to the emotional intensity of the records that preceded it. It is his strongest work to date—a three-dimensional, dust-blown world that is cinematic in its grandeur and intimate in its inspection of the human form. The title of new album ‘Set My Heart On Fire Immediately’, those six words drenched in passion and urgency and as evocative as a flash fiction short story, suggests it will follow in the same vein. Perfume Genius – ‘Set My Heart On Fire Immediately’ review: ... Mike Hadreas’ previous album as Perfume Genius, 2017’s ‘No Shape’, felt something like catharsis. I can have more, and keep everything.”. “Set My Heart On Fire Immediately is the fifth studio album from Perfume Genius released on Matador Records. “Masterpiece” is not a term we use lightly, but it’s hard to think of a better one for Perfume Genius' “Set My Heart on Fire Immediately.” OLE1549DA; Digital File). The album's textures are almost tangible, particularly on "Describe"'s thick distortion and flowing slide guitars, and with the standout "On the Floor," he delivers the kind of irresistibly bouncy, joyous longing that's impossible not to dance to. Perfume Genius Set My Heart on Fire Immediately (Matador) Buy it from Insound Perfume Genius’ fifth album is a chance to take stock. On mid-album battle march “Your Body Changes Everything,” Hadreas explores the exchange of power between bodies. But it is audibly macho as well: Hadreas sinks to a shadowy register, Gendel issues militant sax blurts, and the whole thing gallops to a relentless drum pattern. Album title is overly dramatic, a blend that somehow resembles a calypso...., and keep everything. ” 2017 ’ s shimmering ‘ Too Bright ’ a. Transcend the body, Set My Heart on Fire Immediately.The album title is quintessentially Perfume Genius in,! Immediately on Discogs comforting. ” for this he looked to classic-era pop realisations key... 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