New Perfume Genius Album Announced

Seattle's Mike Hadreas, who you probably know better as Perfume Genius, announced this morning the Feb. 21 release of his next album, Put Your Back N 2 It.

The record features a number of tracks that reference Hadreas' unique take on gay life. According to a press release, "AWOL Marine" deals with "the desperation, demoralization and soullessness that comes with addiction," inspired by "some unedited homemade basement porn I watched," and "17" is "basically a gay suicide letter." Oh, and the album's title track? It's "about gay sex."

The first song available off the album is called "All Waters," which Hadreas has said is about holding hands with his boyfriend.

"Why are straight women always walking with their hands in the back pocket of their boyfriends' jeans," he asked. " Would I do that all the time too if I didn't have to think about it? Alan and I hold hands in specific parts of the city and sometimes outside of those parts. But there is always a little 'catch'; no matter how much I think the shame and fear is gone, there is always a little something in the back of my mind. I am almost embarrassed sometimes when we are holding hands, and that fucking infuriates me. I can't even imagine that hesitation ever going away, and that makes me very sad."

When Outspoke to Hadreas around the release of his last album, Learning, he told us, "I just think being gay is inherently lonely, at least in the beginning...I wish I would have known a long time ago that there are a lot of people that are the same. Not in solidarity or being outcasts, but in a good, healing way."

Speaking about how his sexuality played into the music he wrote, he said, "I think the same amount it does in my life. It's a big part of it. You're reminded of it sometimes--it's just who I am. Definitely I want to never make something where there's an ounce of shame about that. There always is for me, a little bit, and it's bad, but it's inescapable because it's always been drilled into me. So it's kind of a battle to erase that and to not have it be so awful when you feel like that. I want to do that with my music--not be scared to talk about things because of how they would come across or how they would be presented or what people would say about it. If you play the piano and sing and you're gay people compare you to everyone else that plays the piano and sings and is gay. They're all usually good, because we're good at that. But there are other things that are going on."