Perfume Genius Announces Two New Zealand Shows

New Zealand will be playing host to Perfume Genius, aka Mike Hadreas, when he brings his his four-piece band here for two shows in February. The Seattle native's shows on these shores follow the breakthrough success of his third album Too Bright, which since its release in September has captured the attention of ears around the world thanks to the stellar musicianship that has been paired with lyrical themes addressing the homophobia he faces in his day-to-day life as an openly gay person. Here's the details for his forthcoming performances ...

Perfume Genius

Friday 20th February, Kings Arms, Auckland
Saturday 21st February, Bodega, Wellington

Tickets available HERE at UTR as well as Real Groovy in Auckland, and Slowboat and RPM in Wellington.

And here's the brand new video for 'Fool' taken from Too Bright...

PRESS RELEASE:

Seattle native Mike Hadreas – aka Perfume Genius – brings his four piece band to New Zealand for the first time in February 2015 to delight audiences & perform songs from his profoundly beautiful new album Too Bright, out now on Matador Records.

“Hadreas’ sexuality is obviously a huge part of his work, but he’s above all a human—one who’s spoken about battling addiction and sickness and sadness, and one who possesses the ability to write about it in a way that feels universal. A huge part of what makes the work so strong is the generous human spirit that bleeds into it, and Too Bright is the best example to date of the lengths he goes to confront his fears and demons. These songs feel less like songs and more like treasures, ones that fill you with power and wisdom” – PITCHFORK Best New Music 

Over the course of two astonishing albums, Perfume Genius cemented his place as a singer-songwriter of rare frankness, creating songs that, while achingly emotional, offered empathy and hope, rather than any judgment or handwringing. Sparse, gorgeous and with Hadreas’ quavering vocals often only accompanied by piano, they were uncommonly beautiful tales of a life lived on the dark side – scarred, brutalised, yet ultimately, slowly but surely reclaimed.

The third album from Perfume Genius, Too Bright, builds on the exquisite piano ballads Hadreas has become known for, but is less self-conscious and less concerned with storytelling and easily-digested melodies. It is a brave, bold, unpredictably quixotic exploration of what Hadreas calls “an underlying rage that has slowly been growing since ten and has just begun to bubble up”. Recorded with Adrian Utley of Portishead and featuring John Parish on several tracks, it is a stunning about-face which brings to mind audacious career-shift albums like Kate Bush’s The Dreaming or Scott Walker’s Tilt, records which walk the tightrope between pure songwriting and overt experimentation.

Too Bright is one of 2014’s most acclaimed releases, and the “Best Of 2014” accolades keep pouring in: NPR, Time Magazine, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, Stereogum, Paste, Cosmopolitan, American Songwriter, and so many more. It’s an ambitious album, and it’s been extremely gratifying to see how closely people have listened and how intelligently it’s been written about – and in turn, how popular it’s been with fans.

We welcome Perfume Genius to our universe. We can’t wait to see what happens next.