User ratings in Music are temporarily disabled. More info

Learning
by
  • Record Label:
  • Release Date:
Learning Image
Metascore
82

Universal acclaim - based on 11 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.3

Universal acclaim- based on 29 Ratings

  • Summary:
Buy Now
Buy on

Top Track

Learning
No one will answer your prayers until you take off that dress No one will hear all your crying until you take your last breath But you will learn to... See the rest of the song lyrics
See Full Track List »
Powered by

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 11
  3. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. New Musical Express (NME)
    Feb 17, 2012
    90
    Within all the emotional turmoil, there's a lot for the listener to love.
  2. Sputnikmusic
    Feb 17, 2012
    90
    Essentially the best debut album of 2010 thus far.
  3. Drowned In Sound
    Feb 17, 2012
    90
    Learning is a likewise bruised [as the album cover] and suggestive affair; of catharsis and rare, redemptive beauty, which ranks as one of the most uniquely endearing and quietly forceful debut albums of recent years.
  4. BBC Music
    Feb 17, 2012
    80
    So sublime are these ten spectral soundtracks to the minutiae of a modern lover's tribulations that their sorrow is translated into something more uplifting than unsettling.
  5. AllMusic
    Feb 17, 2012
    80
    His songs are delicate but strong, faint yet persistent, and have a deep, almost inexplicable emotional pull.
  6. musicOMH.com
    Feb 17, 2012
    80
    An unremittingly sad record, one that almost suffocates the listener with its own melancholia; and yet there's also something strangely inspirational in its 10 piano-led hymns to failing and trying again.
  7. Under The Radar
    Feb 17, 2012
    50
    While it's clear that Learning has a lot to say, it sorely lacks variety of structure, arrangement, and melody, leaving the record with a bit of a stale aftertaste and merely the promise of something greater in Perfume Genius' future.

See all 11 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 3
  3. Negative: 0 out of 3
  1. alecvl08
    Jan 7, 2015
    9
    This album is so emotionally powerful, and it's sung very well. The production makes it interesting, and the lyrics are good. There isn'tThis album is so emotionally powerful, and it's sung very well. The production makes it interesting, and the lyrics are good. There isn't really a single bad song on this record. My only gripes are that it may be a tad too simple with its piano melodies and that there are a few songs where PG is singing, but there aren't really lyrics, so he's just sort of crooning for an entire track, which gets a little stale.… Expand
  2. jyo_tirmaya
    Apr 7, 2012
    9
    This album is written & sung so well -- so poignant. It's nice to know that someone this young - this is his first album and already he is onThis album is written & sung so well -- so poignant. It's nice to know that someone this young - this is his first album and already he is on a level with, let's say, Bon Iver - and who is so talented is writing about gay current gay sensitive subjects such as gay-teen suicide and gays holding hands in public.… Expand
  4. All_ButTrU4
    Jan 9, 2021
    6
    nice simple guitar ballad record with swift ambient production . it's well written and for a debut album it is very idiosyncratic . thenice simple guitar ballad record with swift ambient production . it's well written and for a debut album it is very idiosyncratic . the stories sound like precursors to the depth of his latter work. the only fault in this beautiful small record is the indulgence of instrumentals and the lack of variety in songs which tend to blend into each other. Favorites :Mr. Peterson, Learning, gay angels.… Expand

Awards & Rankings

61
#61 Best Album of 2010

Current Music Releases

Full List »
99 Band on the Run [50th Anniversary Edition] - Paul McCartney & Wings
95 If I don't make it, I love u - Still House Plants
95 The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow - Charles Lloyd
92 This Could Be Texas - English Teacher
92 COWBOY CARTER - Beyoncé
91 The Carnegie Hall Concert - Alice Coltrane
90 1989 (Taylor's Version) - Taylor Swift
90 Iechyd Da - Bill Ryder-Jones
89 I Got Heaven - Mannequin Pussy
89 Black Bayou - Robert Finley
89 Tigers Blood - Waxahatchee
88 Only God Was Above Us - Vampire Weekend
88 What Now - Brittany Howard
88 Hey Panda - The High Llamas
88 Orquídeas - Kali Uchis
88 The Past Is Still Alive - Hurray for the Riff Raff
87 Filthy Underneath - Nadine Shah
87 i/o - Peter Gabriel
87 Blue Lips - ScHoolboy Q
87 Bright Future - Adrianne Lenker
All Current Music »