Issue 5: Learn Your Lessons Well
Reviewing the latest album from Perfume Genius and lessons from this project
Welcome back! In case you missed it, I’ve been listening to a new album every day and reviewing my favorite(s) here. I listened to 14 albums for this issue and, to be honest, most of them didn’t wow me. There were good—great, even—elements from many of the albums, but they just didn’t sustain interest for a full LP. Some were too inconsistent, some were too snoozy. I literally fell asleep during Lupe Fiasco’s album but, to be fair, that could have been due to a sugar-fueled-post-breakfast food coma (the album is fine!).
I’m going to try not to review or recommend anything here that I don’t think is at least mostly worth your time. I’ve been lucky in having a lot of excellent albums to review each week up until now—more than I have had time to write about. There are going to be slumps. Not everything is going to be fire. We’ve got some exciting big names releasing albums soon (Lizzo! Beyoncé!), but will they be amazing? Probably. But, maybe not! Even though these past two weeks were a slump, there was one album that did wow me and that was “Ugly Season” from Perfume Genius. We’ll dive into it this issue, but first: some lessons and observations that have come up since starting this project.
Intro
I made it to my fifth issue! (Well, technically, sixth but the last one doesn’t fully count). In some ways it feels like “I can’t believe I’m already on my fifth issue” and in other ways it feels like, “I can’t believe I’m only on my fifth issue.” It’s a small milestone regardless. I also recently passed the 200 mark for the number of albums I’ve listened to this year, so this seems like an appropriate point to share a few thoughts on what I’ve learned so far from this whole endeavor.
Cast a wide net. The more sources for finding new albums to listen to the better. I use this list of 2022 releases from Wikipedia to create a list of what I want to listen to. I also scan the genre pages in Apple Music and follow the New York Times’ list of new singles every week to find more diverse and independent releases.
Listen to albums at least twice. Highly recommend this! The first time establishes context and acclimates you to what the artist is trying to do. The second time allows you to sink in to the album after context has been established. It’s amazing how much better an album can sound the second time through. There have only been a small handful of albums I could only get through once and one I couldn’t finish at all (“Slut Pop” from Kim Petras).
Take notes. It’s far easier to write about something later if I jot down observations as I go. I may think I’ll remember something I noticed, but I will not.
Google. (I still need to be better about this.) I have learned that I need to Google artists/bands that I haven’t heard of before listening to their albums to make sure they’re not problematic. Like, putting the term “allegations” behind an artist’s name is helpful. I failed to do this for Kodak Black and Pinegrove.
And one fun and unexpected observation is noticing themes and trends that pop up through everything I’ve been listening to. It might be similar themes in subject matter or specific sounds that come up again and again (even across genres). I’ve also been keeping running micro playlists in my head of songs of the same title. For example, two bands in this week’s issue had songs called “Matilda” (Frank Turner and PUP), and Harry Styles also had a song called “Matilda” on his album. They all had very different subject matters. See also: songs about bones and whether or not boys cry.
All in all, this project has been challenging and stretching, but fun. Every time someone tells me they listened to an album I wrote about, it brings me joy. I keep your feedback with me when I’m staring at my computer and feel like I’m not cut out for this. So, if you have been appreciating this newsletter, give it a like or leave a comment, or send me a text—I’d love to know. We’ve got just over five months of the year left with plenty of highly-anticipated albums. I can’t wait to see what I’ll be excited to share with you next.
Pick of the week
Ugly Season - Perfume Genius
Alternative
To call “Ugly Season” an album is an undersell. It is so much more. It is a full, choreographed production. Mike Hadreas, who performs under the name Perfume Genius, wrote “Ugly Season” as the backdrop to a dance piece called “The Sun Still Burns Here,” choreographed by Kate Wallich. The work was commissioned by the Seattle Theatre Group and Mass MoCA and was performed at various residencies across the country in 2019.1 Hadreas called it “a movement language” and “utopian, sex culty.”2 The style of dance is modern and experimental with lots of writhing and intertwined bodies. It was meant to be immersive, with dancers making their way into the audience at times.3
The music itself is also immersive—it draws you into its world with its sound and plot and characters. It is not a comfortable world, however. It is unsettling and a little spooky at times, but it is also intricate and dazzling. In the uncomfortableness and in the ugliness, there is beauty. There are so many moments that I am in awe of that I’d like to share with you. So, proceed with an open heart and mind and let’s explore some of the beautiful moments from this album performance together.
The overture: “Just a Room.” The setting for the performance is established: an empty and nonspecific place. “No pattern, no bloom, where I’m taking you, flat and static, just a room,” Hadreas sings. In this room we find a contrast of the dark and creepy with the delicate. The song starts out like a dirge but is cut with the dulcet sounds of a toy piano and a harp. Nothing is quite in sync in this place. Melodies and harmonies chase after each other but never quite meet. This contrast and out-of-sync-ness are carried throughout the rest of the performance. The song ends with gasping and “Herem” starts with a breath.
In “Herem,” Hadreas summons our characters. He calls out to Danis, Thalis, Lambros, etc. (gods and goddesses, perhaps?). Flutes coax them out of hiding into a landscape rich with bass and strings. There’s an arresting moment about halfway through the song where everything pulls back from a barrage of organs into a quiet stillness. There’s a shift toward the end of the song (with some beautiful deep bass sounds) that feels like the point where our characters emerge and begin to dance.
“Teeth” (my favorite song) breaks up the darkness of the first few songs and offers something lighter but still a bit unsettling. Hand bells—not quite in tune—set the stage for our protagonist’s soliloquy. “Kept in quiet, held from the light, I grieve time, lost to the wilderness,” he sings. Later, piano mimics the melody of the hand bells. They follow each other—almost like a round.
“Pop song” is deceptively upbeat, and the most accessible of the lot, but its lyrics are still slightly morbid, singing about severing flesh. The song is guided by what sounds like an electric mandolin, giving it a bit of jolliness. Could it be the start of something hopeful?
Alas, the hopeful note is extinguished with “Scherzo,” which gives off a feeling of shiftiness and unease. Something sinister is lurking. It is fully instrumental with jazz piano and harp accompaniments. It ends abruptly as if being suddenly scared off by what’s coming next.
The title track, “Ugly Season,” enters with a sound that I can best describe as goth reggae. Hadreas mumbles his words, singing like his teeth are falling out. He is accompanied by light background vocals and a creepy, wailing voice. Our protagonist reflects upon themselves, oscillating between self-loathing and acceptance. “I’m hideous, raving, feeling my fantasy. Turned from God, slick with rot thick as vaseline, knee deep and filthy,” he sings. Followed by, “bitch, it’s ugly season and I love it,” in strained delivery. This song encapsulates what is perhaps the central theme of this project: the ability to gaze upon ugliness and see beauty.
“Eye in the Wall” is full of rhythm. It is boisterous and upbeat, but not without some eeriness. The protagonist calls on the ensemble to perform for him—he is watching like an eye in the wall. The ensemble is brought together to dance—intertwining and folding. The pace accelerates as if they are called to dance faster and faster. You can watch a clip of the choreography below.
“Photograph” feels like it’s set in an abandoned strip mall from the 80s. The protagonist slinks out of a dark mall corner to bare his soul and offer a love song. “No fantasy. You were meant for me and I for you,” he sings. But, the tone of song conveys the feeling that perhaps its subject is resistant to being seen and being loved. It is slick and entrancing.
The penultimate song, “Hellbent,” opens with what sounds like a bagpipe with rage issues. It has some great drumming interspersed through the song that mirrors its chaotic subject matter (someone trying to hitchhike their way to their drug dealer). Watching a clip of this number (below), you can definitely see the “utopian, sex culty” vibes that Hadreas spoke of. This is the climactic finale of the performance: a boisterous and cacophonous culmination.
We arrive at the coda with “Cenote”. This is another instrumental number with not much more than a piano. It feels partly hopeful, like our protagonist has perhaps found comfort and acceptance. They have waded through the darkness and ugliness and found beauty. I hope that you find beauty in it, too.
Also listen on Apple Music, bandcamp
13 more albums I listened to
FTHC - Frank Turner (Alternative)
THE UNRAVELING OF PUPTHEBAND - PUP (Alternative)
Balance - Frya (Pop)
Unsoothing Interior - Vero (Rock)
Farm to Table - Bartees Strange (Alternative)
Life Is Yours - Foals (Alternative)
Honestly, Nevermind - Drake (Dance)
Diary of The Flow Queen - Erica Banks (Hip-Hop/Rap)
In the Wild - Jasmyn (Alternative)
Soak - Tummyache (Alternative)
Sometimes, Forever - Soccer Mommy (Alternative)
DRILL MUSIC IN ZION - Lupe Fiasco (Rap)
Arkhon - Zola Jesus (Pop)
The Playlist!
These are my favorite songs off of each new album I listened to this year listed in chronological order of listening. The songs from the albums in this issue are at the end of the playlist. It’s updated with every issue.
365 Albums in 2022 - Apple Music playlist
365 Albums in 2022 - Spotify playlist
Thanks for reading! For the next issue, I’m listening to albums from Regina Spektor, Metric, and more. I’ll review my favorites. If you haven’t already, make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss it.
What have you been listening to lately? Anything good? Let me know in the comments.
Ugly Season is definitely not an easy listen, but there are some sublime (as well as hellish) moments. I loved the experimental, Debussy-esque Scherzo. Eye in the Wall is a thrilling walk through a crowded marketplace in, I don’t know, Morocco? that becomes an eerie desert chase. The percussion and shimmering synths, just wow. The bass at the end of Pop Song. And Cenote is exquisite. This is something I never would have listened to without your recommendation.