When we spoke to Mike Hadreas back in early 2013 there was one quote that stuck out above the rest.

The singer behind Perfume Genius revealed to us that “Gay people say that I’m too gay, and you know people say that ‘I don’t care if someone’s gay as long as they don’t rub it in my face’ which I think is ridiculous, and it just really makes me want to rub it in their face.”

It was hard not think of those words when Hadreas dropped the flamboyantly swaggering anthem of ‘Queen’ and its fiercely obtuse video accompaniment in late July.

The Seattle native laughs at the yesteryear backtrack. “I don’t know if I was thinking about that directly when I was writing it, it was more after the fact that I knew that would happen”.

The lead single from his third record, Too Bright, which has been described by some as a gay anthem, marked the return of a significantly different Perfume Genius to the one the we heard on 2010’s Learning and 2012’s Put Your Back In 2 It.

Both consist of harrowing piano-led tales inspired by his own alcohol and drug addictions and troubled relationships. While the lo-fi bedroom recorded Learning signified a typically quiet entrance into the world the 2012 follow-up was one of the year’s most underrated (yet still critically well received) records.

“I was going though older experiences and things that have already happened to me and trying to heal those up,” says the musician of his first two albums. Whereas as he explains “this album is a lot more about how I feel right now and a lot more personal in a way that I’m trying to figure out where I fit”.

Given his past it’s hard not see ‘Queen’ as a startling (and sparkling) surprise.

“I knew a little bit while I was writing it that it might have that ‘too much’ quality that people would be like ‘oh Jesus, why is he still going on about this’. I think that in a small way is a response to that,” affirms the singer.

Too Bright is far more than just an upbeat take on the emotive stylings of Perfume Genius though. The record encompasses moments that are sonically ambitious and weirdly demonic, while at the same time being restrained by the poignant simplicity of his signature piano ballads.

If that sounds conflicting it’s because the LP undoubtedly is. It’s Hadreas at his most wonderfully diverse and inconsistent. After making a name by viciously tugging at the heartstrings the singer has maintained his emotional resonance by broadening his scope.

“I didn’t want to lose sight of the fact that other people want to listen to it,” he says, before adding, “even though I set out to be rebellious and still ended up making a lot of the songs very poppy”.

Which is why Too Bright sounds like a conglomerate of interests. ‘I Decline’, ‘Don’t Let Them In’ and ‘No Good’ in their own respective balladry pay respect to the existing Perfume Genius fan base, while the pulsating synths and screeches of ‘Grid’ or the indecipherable atmospherics of ‘I’m A Mother’ satisfy the growth of Hadreas as a musician.

Yet even on the title track and closer ‘All Along’ the singer manages to find a happier medium for his expansive interests as the former ends in what sounds almost like a Disney whistle, while the later has its own folky guitar twang.

Too Bright may be sonically inconsistent, but far more importantly for his longevity it’s Perfume Genius at his most interesting. The experiment pays off with help from Portishead’s Adrian Utley and John Parish (PJ Harvey), even if it does risk alienating listeners with its candid pop moments.

The singer’s forthrightness in his lyrics has become the Perfume Genius trademark. It may take a different form on his third record, but as Hadreas admits it’s still very much ingrained in Too Bright.

“I’ve learned from my other albums that when I start with something personal somehow it ends up being relatable to other people”.

Which is why Hadreas made the right move by not toning it down like his label suggested (he refers to this as a well intended Dad-like suggestion).

“That’s a hard thing to hear,” says the singer when they told him he would be more successful if he were less explicit, “because I’m getting older and all I’ve got going is my music so that could be kind of a paralyzing at first.

“I know they just want to make money,” he says of his label, Matador, “and I do too, to be honest. Me and my boyfriend want to move into a house, but I just don’t really understand it because I’ve been moved and influenced by people talking about their experiences when I didn’t completely 100% share the same thing.”

Too Bright is out this Friday the 19th via Matador Remote Control.

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