Ugly Season, Perfume Genius (7/10)

 Last Friday was probably the most exciting New Music Friday of the year for me with album drops from Drake, Perfume Genius, and Horse Jumper of Love - three of my favorite artists. And let me just get it straight: I love Perfume Genius and have been a fan of Mike Hadreas for many years. 

That said, this is a remarkably strange and apocalyptic album. Perfume Genius has always been relatively experimental, but this album takes that to a new level I think with a variety of pretty dark and creepy instrumental arrangements -- foregrounding the instrumental rather than his voice more so than a lot of his prior work. And don't get me wrong. I'm here for that. I love the first three songs of the album which are super creepy and slow and dark and sound a bit more like contemporary classical than experimental pop (a divide which Perfume Genius tends to straddle well I think). I've been watching Stranger Things, and I think a Stranger Things Perfume Genius collab would be so so sooo dope. I didn't really love some of the middle of the album which moves through a lot of different sounds - with "Scherzo" being mostly piano and "Ugly Season" dabbling in reggae. But then ultimately I really fucked with 3 out of the last 4 songs. Hadreas is obviously in my opinion one of the most talented musicians alive today (as well as one of my queer icons), and I think this delve into strangeness speaks to his creativity and mastery... the only reason for the relatively low score for someone I've deemed a genius is that I simply did not really love some of the album for my personal taste. Favorite tracks: Just a Room, Herem, Eye in the Wall, Photograph

Side note: I think the album cover does a lot to set the tone/mood/aesthetic of the music. It feels very fitting to me, and I think it's super dope.