Sometimes, indie rock types write music for dance performances, and it's usually pretty fair to slot that music into the minor-works category of their discographies. Nobody is like, "Yeah, Illinois is cool, but I think Sufjan Stevens' best shit is the music that he writes for ballet." This is not how you should think of the new Perfume Genius single "Natural High." It's a song written for a dance performance, but it's got as much reach and ambition as any other Perfume Genius song, which is a lot.
Mike Hadreas isn't new to this. Back in 2019, the Perfume Genius mastermind collaborated with choreographer Kate Wallich on a dance and live music performance piece called The Sun Still Burns Here, which led to the 2022 album Ugly Season. After releasing the very good LP Glory last year, Perfume Genius is getting back together with Wallich for another dance and performance piece called The Lesson. It's commissioned by the Seattle Theatre Group, and it's inspired by the Elfriede Jelinek novel The Piano Teacher, which Michael Haneke also turned into a pretty fucked up movie.
Early next year, Perfume Genius and Kate Wallich will take The Lesson on tour, starting things off with a three-night run at the Los Angeles venue REDCAT Feb. 18-20. They'll perform it live with Alan Wyffels and Tate Justus. Perfume Genius' new song "Natural High" comes from the show, and it's a six-minute epic that starts off as eerie ghost-folk and then moves into dank club-music territory. This is Perfume Genius operating at peak capacity. Below, check out that song and the tour dates for The Lesson.
TOUR DATES:
2/06 - North Adams, MA, USA @ MASS MoCA (Work-in-Progress Showing)
2/18-20 - Los Angeles, CA @ REDCAT
2/25-27 - Los Angeles, CA @ REDCAT
3/04-06 - New York, NY @ Baryshnikov Arts Center
3/17-18 - Paris, France, @ Philharmonie de Paris
3/21 - London, UK @ Barbican Centre
3/24 - Utrecht, Netherlands @ Birds of Paradise Festival
3/27 - Dublin, Ireland @ National Concert Hall
4/01 - Minneapolis, MN @ Liquid Music / Northrop
4/09 - Seattle, WA @ The 5th Avenue Theatre
