No bells anymore - just my stomach rumbling

Continuing my trip up The Guardian's Best Albums of 2020 list...

#4 : Set My Heart On Fire Immediately - Perfume Genius


Mike Hadreas’s work has always dealt with heavy themes including abuse and bullying, but with the opener of his new album, he asks to be relinquished of his trauma. “Let it drift and wash away,” he sings on Whole Life. Yet absolution prompts a tug of war, and the spectre of shame looms, although it’s now dressed in the rollicking chug of On the Floor, the poppiest Hadreas has ever sounded. The record doesn’t conclude in rebirth. “I thought the sea would make some pattern known / And swim us safely home,” Hadreas laments on sparse closer Borrowed Light. Yet this is not weary resignation: for an artist who has been in constant metamorphosis, such acceptance feels revelatory.

I'd wasn't aware of him or anything he'd ever done, so it's safe to say I was coming to this fresh.  And if you listen to this, I think you'll be coming to it fresh as well because I'm struggling to describe it.  I think I'd go for a slightly less beepy (as in electronic sounding, rather than sweary) Hot Chip  - although other bits of the album sound like a Twin Peaks soundtrack, being all swirly and falsetto.  Overall, I think I liked it - I wouldn't describe it as an immediate album, but think it will draw people in given a chance (but how many people give albums a chance these days?).  I particularly liked "Nothing At All" and "On The Floor" - quirky rhythms backed with a hooky chorus.

Wikipedia doesn't have a lot to say about the album and those things it does have to say are a load of old nonsense ("the themes of embodiment in his prior music were complicated as dance felt rebellious against [his] body").  "Customers also listened to" Angel Olsen who is someone else I've never heard of - you can't claim this review is overloading you with actual useful information, can you?  All in all, this fantastically titled album is probably not for everyone but there are worse things you could do with an hour of your time than investigate it.

#5 - Sounds good, but not sure it's great
#3 - Enjoyably nuts

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