Put your back N 2 It is Perfume Genius’ second album after their debut album Learning. Comparing this to their debut album I found it to be an improvement to say the least. The overall production on Put Your Back N 2 It is more professional and clean than Learning’s quite Lo-Fi eerie sound.
The majority of songs on this album are short, ambient piano and vocal songs with harmonious accompaniment. Throughout the album the poetic lyrics are sung by Mike Hadreas in a very soft and emotive way. However each song has something different and special about it, for example the song ‘Dirge’ has a soft melodic synth bridge between verses, and on the song ‘Take Me Home’ there is a slow quite compelling drum accompaniment which evokes more emotion and power into the song.
If you look into the lyrics from beginning to end in this album, you will find some very dark and somewhat disturbing themes that Mike Hadreas himself has experienced. The song ‘Dark Parts’ is about the abuse that his mother endured from her father. The lyrics on ‘Hood’ show the dark secrets that Mike Hadreas has kept from a lover which if were exposed could destroy the relationship.
Love is the main theme which the lyrics are based around, they are based around the struggles that modern gay men have to go through in their lives, which Mike himself has experienced. Although after listening to this album several times I found that Mike Hadreas himself has been through a lot more pain and suffering than the average person, or at least that is how I feel he expresses it in both this album and his previous album Learning.
Overall I think this album is perfect to just sit down in silence and just closely listen to, and nearly every song gives you shivers up your back.
Discover Perfume Genius: Myspace // Facebook // Matador Records
By Harry Haslam
Dance Yrself Clean
