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Noisey

Perfume Genius's Big, Beautiful Mystery

On 'No Shape,' Mike Hadreas's songwriting takes a more ambitious, poetic turn.

Mike Hadreas never wasted any time introducing himself. On his unflinchingly personal 2010 debut LP as Perfume Genius, Learning, the singer-songwriter immediately went deep, sharing diaristic lyrics and autobiographical details about abuse, loss, and the struggle to gain acceptance from the surrounding world, albeit couched in tape hiss and glowing keyboards. Every successive release has seen him expanding his sonic palette – the baroque instrumentation of 2012's Put Your back N 2 It, Too Bright's laser-guided electronics and threatening atmospheres from 2014 – and the topical breadth of his lyrics have widened accordingly, less centred towards explicitly personal fare.

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That trend continues on Hadreas' fourth Perfume Genius album, No Shape. Produced by increasingly in-demand studio wizard Blake Mills (Fiona Apple, Alabama Shakes) and featuring a contribution from Santa Monica singer-songwriter Natalie Mering's Weyes Blood alias, the album is the most sonically wide-reaching Perfume Genius album yet, spanning sounds as disparate as skyscraping rock textures, slow-burn trip-hop, airy synth-pop, and Enya. (Yes, Enya).

"I've thought about artists releasing these big albums, lately – so here's my big album for you," Hadreas explains when talking about the album's expanded scope. We're at a Manhattan hotel bar, and he's sipping a Diet Coke with lemon. He's jetlagged, having flown into town from his home in Seattle for a private No Shape listening session the morning of, but he's no less thoughtful for it. "I wanted to make this big album with these big songs – only, my version of that. When everything started sounding more slick, I got kind of worried – but it's still pretty strange music. The subject matter is weird, and we didn't use regular-ass instruments all the time."

Lyrically, No Shape addresses themes ranging from body image and the rebellion of existence to sexuality and peace in domesticity. The words are often sparse and few between – especially on the stunning and smouldering "Die 4 You," one of three songs in which Mills and Hardeas share a co-write – but they're imbued with poetic meaning that, compared to previous efforts, sometimes seems just out of reach.

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