Perfume Genius: Atomize and Inhale Sound

There is something about Perfume Genius that fills the room and turns heads.  You don’t just listen to a melody or lyrics but Perfume Genius’ music somehow mists the air and droplets of a combination of ambient sound and song absorb into you. My younger self experienced that with bands like Portishead and Mazzy Star (very different I know but they both worked in that way for me).  Perfume Genius’ first album was created in 2008 and they have since put out ten albums.  Let’s take a look at who Perfume Genius was, who they’ve become and where they might go from here.  Loosely based on a classic Tarot three card spread, we’ll look at Perfume Genius’ past, present and future, and then I’ll draw a random card for fun and see what it does for us.  I am neither a Tarot expert nor a music expert, but I listen to a ton of music (have been for over half a century) and I enjoy the art and play in Tarot and how it can provide a lens through which to see whatever you are looking at. 

Who Are We Talking About Here

Based in Los Angeles, Mike Hadreas was born in Des Moines Iowa, but raised in Seattle, and raised further in New York City. Mike Hadreas chose the name Perfume Genius on a whim while watching the movie Perfume. Hadreas admits choosing a name via joking banter with a friend was probably for the best because there were neither expectations nor pressure to choose a good one in the moment.  He picked the name at a time when Mike Hadreas didn’t know he was going to have an album or play shows.  At 25, he wrote his first song, and in the following two decades put out ten noteworthy (pun intended) albums.  Perfume Genius, created art out of life. Hadreas is an artist at the core, but a young life of going out and drinking was perhaps more of a way of coping with his inner artist rather than harnessing it. One of the things I love about following new, young bands is being able to go along for the ride of their musical and personal development through time, life, maturity, and such. For Perfume Genius, I have done that in reverse and getting to know him and his work joining late to the game. I loved reading this quote, which has a certain levity and freedom to it but also a lot of truth.

[On the body.] Fuck that. Fuck the body. It’s about the face.

-Perfume Genius, Into the Gloss (December 2017)

The First Album

Learning was released on December 6th 2010 and has sweet piano melodies that tap into something youthful and innocent with lyrics and vocals that have lived through some things. The sound could be described as haunting but it is less ethereal than that. It is a human sound. A living, present, human experience of music. I love this first album, which is new to me, as much as I love the most recently released music.

[ on “Gay Angels” ] In another artist’s hands, this might come off as melodramatic playacting. Hadreas turns it into one of the album’s most affecting songs, as this talented new artist uses those two words to evoke Learning‘s ultimate mindset: Today is terrible, but tomorrow can bring anything.

Larry Fitzmaurice, Pitchfork (July 16, 2010)

Now: Glory Extended

February 27th, 2026, Perfume Genius released Glory (Extended), which is an expanded version of Mike Hadreas’ critically acclaimed, GRAMMY nominated album Glory.  The LP has four new tracks:  “Undercurrent (Clean Heart)”, “Jamie“, “Body of Evidence“, and “It’s Fine (No Front Teeth)“.

I remember playing “Jamie” for someone after I recorded it and they thought it was insane. I think it’s really soothing. I thought it was cool that they heard it as kind of manic but I felt the complete opposite. You can hear my dog Wanda running around too. I did feel like I was channeling something when I made it that was a one time thing, like a visitor. All the recordings on this expanded version are generally built in one or two days. I’ve always written that way. I’ll spend weeks on the lyrics if they don’t come together right away and finish a lot of the words in the studio, but I write the music by recording at home and if I try to hold on to songs too hard they leave.

Mike Hadreas, Perfume Genius

I admit that I may have an imbalance of songs saved to favourites by select few individual bands and Perfume Genius is one of them. The four new songs on Glory (Extended) have already made it into my precious liked songs list. The lyrics from “Jamie” are pretty perfect. To concisely and precisely tell the story of loving someone honestly fully aware of a problematic situation is difficult enough without song. To have lyrics in a song do it so perfectly is pure genius.

The Future Is Now: Duo

Perfume Genius is in town, Somerville to be precise, on April 5th for the Duo tour at Arts at The Armory. That show is sold out at the moment, but don’t let that stop you from shutting out the world, and putting on the new album for a little Perfume Genius moment alone at home. Perfume Genius played at Royale last June, and will hopefully be back again soon because Boston loves what he has to offer.

The Card

I forgot to bring one of my own Tarot decks to where I am finishing up this post, but luckily Linger has a couple to choose from. I happen to have gotten this Movie Tarot deck from the TIFF store for myself too so I figured I would go with this one. I swear I shuffled the cards well and this is the actual card I drew.

The card drawn: The Hanged Man
Illustration is of: Björk as Selma Ježková

Delay. Sacrifice. Reversals. Decisions on hold. Review. Readjustment. Abandonment. Rejection. Betrayal. Falseness. Trials. Restrained or bound. Caution. Being in limbo. Temporarily unable to go forward.

The Hanged Man can see the situation in a totally different way and stop when the way forward is unclear. A temporary suspension or release. If you’re approaching a dead end, know when it makes sense to surrender.

Selma Ježková, describing her way of pretending that movie musicals never have to end: “I would leave just after the next to last song…and the film would just go on forever.”

Written by Diana McMahon Collis, illustrated by Natalie Foss, Movie Tarot: A Hero’s Journey in 78 Cards

I tend to always look at the positive and see things through rose coloured glasses, so to me The Hanged Man can be quite positive, whereas I recognize that it may seem more gloom and doom to many readers. These are themes that Perfume Genius references or even just processes through song, to brace himself against a time when they are present in his life or to deal from times when they have been.

The fact that this card is an illustration of Björk is just sheer serendipty. From a May, 2017 article and interview with Perfume Genius this statement says it all. I only searched for and found this quote after drawing the card.

On the topic of influences, he doesn’t have to think about the artist whose music helped him most growing up. “Björk, straight up Björk,” he [Mike Hadreas] says.

Ross Semple for Attitude Magazine UK (May 12 2017)

Whatever comes along on Perfume Genius’ path in the coming months or years, I have no doubt it will include more music to add to my liked song playlist in a timeline that makes sense for the artist. As for the near future, here is where you can catch the Perfume Genius (Duo) tour.

Apr 5, 2026 The Center for Arts at the Armory
Somerville, MA

Apr 6, 2026 Le National
Montreal, QC

Apr 8, 2026 The Great Hall
Toronto, ON

Apr 9, 2026 Center for the Arts of Homer
Homer, NY