Perfume Genius - Put Your Back N 2 It (Matador Records)

by Matt Holliday of Rapids!

Seattle singer songwriter and balladeer, Mike Hadreas, followed up his critically acclaimed début LP - " Learning" two months ago, exploring a wider range of topics, ranging from homophobia to abuse and suicide.  

With praise coming from the likes of Michael Stipe and Bryce Dessner of The National, as well as the music press in all its forms, Mike has created a body of work that is akin to The Cure's masterpiece - Disintegration - in the way that it turns melancholy into gut wrenching beauty, so delicate in its craft that in teeters on the edge of absolute loss, but clings on with the very tips of its fingers.

THE ARTWORK

Mike is a Fine Art student and created the nude toned, self deprecating self portrait that adorned his first album. On the sleeve of Put Your Back N 2 It, Mike has taken an old photograph of a high school gym team, and worked his magic with scrunched up canvas and tissue.

I really like the hand made quality of the sleeve, and the way he manages to cover so much of the records themes in the artwork. By concealing the face of the two central figures he hints at a secret that the rest of the team are not aware of, which could be seen as sinister, in case they were to react with anger and disgust at the feelings between the two men, however there is a tenderness there that I find captures the album perfectly. The rest of the team are out of focus, drawing the attention to the two key figures and almost begging the onlooker to not let slip their secret. The canvas that covers their faces is textured on the CD sleeve format, which I thought was a nice touch!

THE MUSIC

Mike is a homosexual musician. The romance in his songs is between two men. For that reason I am going to go as far as to say that Mike Hadreas is a modern day Harvey Milk for the on-line generation. Youtube recently banned an advert for the first single off the record, 'Hood', as it was too explicit in its content. It features two men hugging. Its 2012. If it is okay for music videos involving the latest chart princess to parade about in bugger all, then Mike is challenging the Jeff Blogs out there to try and look beyond their prejudices and question what it is they are so frightened of. Gay people need someone out there like Mike to look up to, and to reassure them, in a similar way that the Mayor of Castro Street inspired a movement in 1978. 

The songs themselves are fuller than those that featured on Learning, but are still so gentle and beautiful that they challenge the listener to attempt to find the silver lining during the hard and dark times. The most powerful aspect of Put Your Back N 2 It is its honesty. At times you feel wrapped up in its emotions, on tracks like All Waters, the sentiment engulphs you, but on tracks like Sister Song, Mike allows the track to take a deep breathe and let out a sigh, and he does a wonderful job of capturing the feeling of release and tranquillity after a difficult moment. 

Put Your Back N 2 It Tracklist:
01. Awol Marine
02. Normal Song
03. No Tear
04. 17
05. Take Me Home
06. Dirge
07. Dark Parts
08. All Waters
09. Hood
10. Put Your Back N2 It
11. Floating Spit
12. Sister Song

Buy from Matador Records here

*NEW MUSIC VIDEO* For the second single - Dark Parts.