As the title suggests, the eternal fire of love still burns brightly within Mike Hadreas’ heart. The U.S. singer-songwriter, now 38, has been crafting sumptuous chamber-pop pieces since his mid-20s - evolving his foppish fortunes as well as his repertoire. His latest product, Set My Heart On Fire Immediately, has indelibly reignited our spark of infatuation for an ingenious craft of sprawling romantics.
From the cramped yet colourful world of his previous 2017 LP, No Shape, to the black-and-white, hyper-masculine constructions as of late, Hadreas’ desire to explore the essence of machismo deems to be his latest premise - channelling the likes of John Wayne and Elvis Presley. Where the inception for No Shape burst itself into life with an orgasmic conglomeration of electronics, Set My Heart sees the consumption of blues-ridden, clangy guitars paving the way in ‘Whole Life’ - eliciting an undeniable ode to the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.
The abstract ‘western’ environment consuming the thematics of this LP are brimming, too, from the delicate string stabbings in ‘Without You’, to Hadreas’ romanticised theatrics in the music video of ‘On The Floor’. Even within the first handful of tracks here, the drawn-out, electronic tropes embedded in his previous work seems somewhat of a distant memory, enlisting further antiquities of the 1990’s alt-rock scene a-la Smashing Pumpkins. Courtesy of the LP’s first single, ‘Describe’, the premature peeking into Hadreas’ new world revealed an unnerving world collision of hypermasculinity and distortional yearning.
However, we don’t even need to reach the end of this track to rediscover Hadreas’ masterfully-sculpted blankets of synthetic chamber-pop, cascading into a symphony of strings brilliantly captured by producer Blake Mills in the succeeding track, ‘Jason’. The popularised tropes of this particular genre have worked wonders for the likes of Weyes Blood and Julia Holter’s recent LPs, and this partnership holds firms against its contemporaries - conjuring a truly orgasmic sensation of muffled, high-pitch synth notes greeting Hadreas' textural whisperings in ‘Leave’.
Naturally, Hadreas’ poetic lyricism also strikes its hefty emotional chords as well, initially describing the euphoria that “his love it felt like ribbons”, to the harrowing concluding note that “there’s no secret just an undertow”. The scarring self-deprecation imbued by this 50-minute journey is something Hadreas certainly hasn’t strayed from here, but rather evolved this since the days of 2012’s Put Your Back N 2 It.
In spite of the dynamic partnership struck between Hadreas and Mills, the pitfalls of production eventually bear themselves in the latter half of Set My Heart. The aforementioned distortional tones are rendered tasteless in ‘Nothing At All’, as well as the shallow drum beats succumbing to ‘One More Try’s forgetful motifs. In spite of Hadreas’ impressively versatile vocal deliveries strewn throughout this LP, the inaudible vocal vignettes in ‘Leave’ and ‘Moonbend’ disappointingly undermine Hadreas’ lyricism in favour of the instrumental side of affairs.
Hadreas’ pensive mind proves fit for purpose here on Set My Heart On Fire Immediately, with the harrowing conclusion in the LP’s finale stating there’s “just an undertow” and nothing more. Re-shaping his hyper-masculine looks from the 50's, as well as incorporating the raw alt-rock sounds of the 90’s - this LP is every bit refreshing to hear as it is to feel. Excluding the frustrations of the record’s midway point, Mills and Hadreas have yet again produced an immersively daunting experience, exposing the darkened corners of an emotionally volatile mind toying with romantics. Through “camp”-fuelled narratives, Hadreas has conjured a convoluted self-portrait on this LP - one that’s simultaneously stimulating as it is haunting.
8/10
Perfume Genius' latest LP, Set My Heart On Fire Immediately, is out now and can be found here.
Comments