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CRITIC REVIEWS
100
Deciding to do something so avant-garde and so heavily art-focussed is a brave move and so perfectly Perfume Genius.
90
The album captures the visceral and tender dimensions of dance, pushing the boundaries of the musician’s artistry.
86
The expansive spirit of Mike Hadreas’ terrific new album conjures and reimagines a mode of experimental pop music that is ecstatic, healing, modern, and queer.
84
On its own, it’s one of the most challenging and rewarding releases Perfume Genius has ever attempted .... The compositional risks and oblique poetry from Hadreas never waver throughout the album’s methodical pacing, with his voice bringing urgency to every subtle change as the songs progress.
80
Hadreas is a masterful, theatrical album arranger, and makes album closer Cenote a cooling exhale, the final savasana. Ugly Season is a scenic route to the world’s end that finds hope in bodily beauty, however ravaged.
80
Michael Hadreas of Perfume Genius delivers his most experimental, wandering, and gorgeously unkempt album to date with Ugly Season.
80
The best thing any devotee of Perfume Genius can do is lovingly dissect Ugly Season’s strangeness and beauty in hopes of finding the thread Michael Hadreas will follow next.
80
The most compelling elements of his work remain, and the album is a culmination of one of the most consistent and emotionally generous artists today.
80
Mike Hadreas has always had an experimental streak, but with this sixth album the artist allows himself to embrace the avant-garde.
80
'Ugly Season' is best digested as a whole concept. It demands focus, and if the listener isn't too careful, they'll miss the nuance found in muttered lyrics and a flicker of synth. Overlooking the majesty of Perfume Genius’ 'Ugly Season' feels akin to committing a mortal sin.
80
Ugly Season borrows from classical approaches, chamber- and baroque-pop templates, and the diverse canon of industrial/dystopian music.
80
Ugly Season is a powerful statement as both an album and a score for a dance piece, and its intertwining of self-expression and healing is peak Perfume Genius.
80
Only time will tell how Ugly Season fits into the Perfume Genius canon. Whether or not it gets accepted as the true follow-up to Set My Heart… may well come down to whether Hadreas and co try to insert these songs into live shows, whenever they go on the road again.
78
Ugly Season neither gets nor needs a real conclusion. It’s about open possibilities, not fixed forms or closed statements, and moreover, it’s the kind of music that speaks perfectly well for itself.
75
As the sixth album in Hadreas’ discography, Ugly Season deserves credit for taking the risks it does, trusting the audience to follow along with each step of its dance.
74
Ugly Season is as bewildering and bizarre as its cover art, but without the accompanying short film, its wild ideas sometimes become untethered. It’s unclear whether it’s an album hardcore fans will revisit often, but its boldness and innovation aught to be celebrated.
70
Ambient, baroque-pop and neo-classical are the connective tissue on the album, though those experiments often fall into the background.
70
Though some tracks really need the context of performance or visuals on the astral fourth-world funk of "Eye In The Wall", Hadreas sets sail on his own Arthur Russell style "African Night Flight”.
70
Mike wades into even more abstract waters on Ugly Season.
70
It's not the most essential Perfume Genius album, but it feels like an important one — the wind-whipping, pulse-quickening sprint to some place even bigger and more daring.
70
An album in its truest form, a record to sit with and take in as one whole.
60
Perfume Genius' sixth album is the biggest stylistic change of their career so far, though not an altogether surprising one.
60
Without the accompanying visuals, Ugly Season makes the most sense when there's a vocal to centre it.
40
It's ultimately overshadowed by the monotonous electronic pulse of Eye In The Wall and the jarring quasi-ragga of the title track. White those songs may have worked onstage, on record they fall sadly short.
40
The usually hypnotic music of Mike Hadreas has been replaced by wearying self-indulgence.
I love when an artist takes such a big turn in their carrier and it works. Talk Talk with Spirits Of Eden, Radiohead with Kid A, Sufjan with Age Of Adz, Bon Iver with 22, A Milion. Now it’s time for Perfume Genius and i’m here for it!
Friendly reminder: it's pride month and rating it below 80 is homophobic.
Hadreas manages to render imperfection into something perfectly majestic and seductive..
[Hello AOTY, I recently participated in the "Best Albums of 2O22 So Far" list for Spectrum Culture, supporting the latest Perfume Genius album "Ugly Season", so here's the whole of my work + a complementary exclusive version especially for you. Love]
https://spectrumculture.com/2022/06/28/best-albums-of-2022-so-far/
Two years ago Mike Hadreas a.k.a Perfume Genius seemed to have ... read more
1. Just a Room [8/10]
2. Herem [9/10]
3. Teeth [10/10]
4. Pop Song [10/10]
5. Scherzo [5/10]
6. Ugly Season [9/10]
7. Eye In the Wall [8/10]
8. Photograph [9/10]
9. Hellbent [7/10]
10. Cenote [8/10]
TOTAL: 83 / 10 = 8.30
Gay Thom Yorke is killing it. Seriously this album is so full of interesting textures and landscapes. I haven’t heard music like this before, it’s that beautiful miracle of avant-garde experimentation that actually works!
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Track List
| 1 | Just a Room 3:29 | 81 |
| 2 | Herem 7:21 | 85 |
| 3 | Teeth 4:13 | 85 |
| 4 | Pop Song 5:05 | 89 |
| 5 | Scherzo 3:50 | 75 |
| 6 | Ugly Season 4:40 | 84 |
| 7 | Eye in the Wall 8:42 | 89 |
| 8 | Photograph 4:41 | 88 |
| 9 | Hellbent 6:41 | 87 |
| 10 | Cenote 3:32 | 81 |
Total Length: 52 minutes
Year End Lists
| #11 | / | A.V. Club |
| #19 | / | Spectrum Culture |
| #23 | / | Paste |
| #26 | / | Northern Transmissions |
| #26 | / | Pitchfork |
| #43 | / | PopMatters |
| #69 | / | Under the Radar |
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1d
it's crazy that out of any perfume genius album to come out in the past 10 years... this is the one that gets overlooked. blows literally everything he's made so far out of the water
3mo
It will one be one year tomorrow since this masterpiece was released and it's somehow still awfully underrated....
Added on: March 24, 2022