Perfume Genius, aka Mike Hadreas, has released a new track, "Natural High." It was created as part of the dance piece The Lesson, which he is preparing together with choreographer Kate Wallich and which draws on Elfriede Jelinek's novel The Piano Teacher — a book that Michael Haneke adapted into a film in 2001. DIY Magazine ↗
The track was co-produced by Pascal Stevenson of Fashion Club. It moves from moody, Twin Peaks-evoking keyboard lines through bright synthesizers to a house-rhythm-driven climax. The Lesson follows on from Hadreas and Wallich's previous collaboration, The Sun Still Burns Here, which later evolved into Perfume Genius's album "Ugly Season." The new work explores themes of desire, repression, authority and submission; it features Hadreas, Wallich, longtime collaborator Alan Wyffels, and Tate Justus. DIY Magazine ↗
"I've always thought of my albums as soundtracks to movies that don't exist," says Hadreas. "There's a freedom in that — inhabiting something invented and purely sonic. I can be every character, or not exist at all, or switch bodies whenever I feel like it. That doesn't change when making a performance with Kate either: all the mystery and excitement of heading somewhere lawless and dreamlike remains — I'm just not building that world alone, and it's literally taking shape in real time." DIY Magazine ↗
The Lesson will premiere in February 2027 at REDCAT in Los Angeles, followed by performances in New York.
Illustrative photo: Perfume Genius at All Points East 2022. Photo: Raph_PH / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Perfume Genius releases Natural High. The track belongs to a dance piece with choreographer Kate Wallich
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