Albums to watch

Ugly Season

Perfume Genius

Ugly Season

Sixth studio album from Seattle-based indie pop solo artist Mike Hadreas

ADM rating[?]

7.5

Label
Matador
UK Release date
17/06/2022
US Release date
17/06/2022
  1. 10.0 |   Gigwise

    A true statement of an artist
    Read Review

  2. 9.0 |   Slant Magazine

    The album captures the visceral and tender dimensions of dance, pushing the boundaries of the musician’s artistry
    Read Review

  3. 8.6 |   Pitchfork

    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
    Read Review

  4. 8.4 |   Paste Magazine

    Mike Hadreas and Alan Wyffels continue their hot streak with producer Blake Mills on an album that rewards patience
    Read Review

  5. 8.0 |   NME

    Mike Hadreas has always had an experimental streak, but with this sixth album the artist allows himself to embrace the avant-garde
    Read Review

  6. 8.0 |   All Music

    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 Geniu
    Read Review

  7. 8.0 |   Beats Per Minute

    Whether you devour it or dismiss it, there’s no denying that it expands the mythos and majesty of Perfume Genius
    Read Review

  8. 8.0 |   Clash

    '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
    Read Review

  9. 8.0 |   The Line Of Best Fit

    Ugly Season confirms Hadreas’s commitment to discovery and resistance to reiteration
    Read Review

  10. 8.0 |   Spectrum Culture

    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
    Read Review

  11. 8.0 |   PopMatters

    Michael Hadreas of Perfume Genius delivers his most experimental, wandering, and gorgeously unkempt album to date with Ugly Season
    Read Review

  12. 8.0 |   Crack

    Ugly Season is a scenic route to the world’s end that finds hope in bodily beauty, however ravaged
    Read Review

  13. 7.8 |   Sputnik Music (staff)

    Perfume Genius could easily have made this as a wilfully oblique record; the reality is mercurial, intoxicating and richly creative at every turn, and you now know this. Get out there and get lost in it
    Read Review

  14. 7.5 |   Under The Radar

    The tracks are largely abstract with long periods of solely instrumental passages, but Hadreas’ artistic voice is evident throughout. If anything, the record demonstrates that his hunger for innovation and evolution still remain intact
    Read Review

  15. 7.4 |   Northern Transmissions

    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
    Read Review

  16. 7.0 |   DIY

    An album in its truest form, a record to sit with and take in as one whole
    Read Review

  17. 7.0 |   Uncut

    Bracingly beautiful dance score from avant-pop auteur

  18. 7.0 |   Loud And Quiet

    Ambient, baroque-pop and neo-classical are the connective tissue on the album, though those experiments often fall into the background
    Read Review

  19. 7.0 |   Exclaim

    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
    Read Review

  20. 7.0 |   The Arts Desk

    A ground-breaking and difficult art object that challenges categorisation
    Read Review

  21. 7.0 |   The Quietus

    A minimalist, ambient, often discordant traipse through dark textures and unusual moods
    Read Review

  22. 6.0 |   The Skinny

    Perfume Genius' sixth album is the biggest stylistic change of their career so far, though not an altogether surprising one
    Read Review

  23. 4.0 |   The Irish Times

    Not so much a career game changer as a (however temporary) change of direction, Ugly Season sees Perfume Genius/Hadreas challenge the listener. In principle, this is only right and proper. In practice, it is, frankly, mostly torment
    Read Review


blog comments powered by Disqus

Watch it

Roll over video for more options

Hear it

Latest Reviews

More reviews