Ugly Season
by Perfume Genius
  • Record Label: Matador
  • Release Date: Jun 17, 2022
Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 18 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 18
  3. Negative: 0 out of 18
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  1. Slant Magazine
    Jun 15, 2022
    90
    The album serves as a beautiful dissection of dance as action and concept. Beyond that, it’s the most experimental Perfume Genius effort to date, and a bold addition to an already impeccable discography.
  2. Pitchfork
    Jun 16, 2022
    86
    The collision between acoustic instrumentation and crackerjack production makes for a lush and widescreen experience.
  3. Paste Magazine
    Jun 16, 2022
    84
    It’s one of the most challenging and rewarding releases Perfume Genius has ever attempted. ... Ugly Season continues a hell of a winning streak for Perfume Genius, a group that has ascended beyond expectation.
  5. The Telegraph (UK)
    Jun 24, 2022
    80
    Ugly Season may seem just that to those who prefer Hadreas’s smoother side. Yet 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. Without the focus of the dance performance, the onus is on the listener to concentrate – but the rewards are as rich as ever.
  6. PopMatters
    Jun 23, 2022
    80
    His most experimental, wandering, and gorgeously unkempt album to date.
  7. The Quietus
    Jun 22, 2022
    80
    What you will find is an artist keen on experimenting with mood and form. Much of the music probably makes greater sense alongside the dance project, but as a standalone piece of work it offers welcome insight into another side of Hadreas’ artistic temperament.
  8. Beats Per Minute
    Jun 17, 2022
    80
    This is undoubtedly going to be a divisive one for long-term fans, with some holding it up as just as vital as anything else, while others will simply overlook it or just take a couple of highlights to add to their ‘Best of PG’ playlists. Whichever the case, whether you devour it or dismiss it, there’s no denying that it expands the mythos and majesty of Perfume Genius.
  9. AllMusic
    Jun 17, 2022
    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.
  10. New Musical Express (NME)
    Jun 16, 2022
    80
    ‘Ugly Season’ might be indulgent, but Hadreas is still able to weave in the tender and immediate songwriting that made ‘Set My Heart On Fire’ so engaging (just as he wove his experimental streak into that record).
  11. The Line of Best Fit
    Jun 15, 2022
    80
    Ugly Season confirms Hadreas’s commitment to discovery and resistance to reiteration.
  12. Clash Music
    Jun 15, 2022
    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.
  13. Sputnikmusic
    Jun 20, 2022
    78
    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.
  14. Under The Radar
    Jun 17, 2022
    75
    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.
  15. Exclaim
    Jun 16, 2022
    70
    Ugly Season may lack the emotional resonance of Hadreas' best work as Perfume Genius, but it achieves a wildness that he's never quite accessed before, an alchemy between his bone-raw earlier records and the epic proportions of his later work. It's not the most essential Perfume Genius album, but it feels like an important one.
  16. Uncut
    Jun 15, 2022
    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”. [Jul 2022, p.31]
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  17. DIY Magazine
    Jun 15, 2022
    70
    There aren’t any standalone tracks, with the arguable exception of ‘Pop Song’. In that sense this is an album in its truest form, a record to sit with and take in as one whole.
  18. Mojo
    Jul 22, 2022
    60
    Without the accompanying visuals, Ugly Season makes most sense when there's a vocal to centre it. [Aug 2022, p.86]
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  19. The Skinny
    Jun 15, 2022
    60
    The constantly shifting mood makes it difficult to settle into a rhythm, which may be due to the missing visual element, but there are more than enough well-executed left turns on Ugly Season to make a solid standalone album.

User Reviews

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User Score
8.2

Universal acclaim- based on 21 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 21
  3. Negative: 1 out of 21
  1. UlyssesSk
    Jun 17, 2022
    9
    One of the best things about perfume genius and this album is that we can see how ideas from the previous album thematic or in the productionOne of the best things about perfume genius and this album is that we can see how ideas from the previous album thematic or in the production and the instrumentation evolves and gets perfected like for example the ending passage of herem is reminiscent of the passage from leave but perfected things like that make me smile 9.5/10 it can grow as a 10 for sure… Full Review »
  2. All_ButTrU4
    Jun 17, 2022
    8
    Ugly season:8.8/10
    After a 2 year wait preceeded by two stunning singles that both continued to contend with the reoccurring theme of    Ugly season:8.8/10
    After a 2 year wait preceeded by two stunning singles that both continued to contend with the reoccurring theme of transcendence Mike returns with "Ugly Season" a sonic companion to an ambitious immersive performance art dance piece ''The Sun Still Burns Here'"

    This record rebels against the accessibility achieved by his last two masterpiece but seeks his more languid and audacious parts,moments witnessed in the horror of ''I'm a mother" or distortion of "choir" . Entire songs can pass without Handreas fragile chords such as the piano piece "scherzo" giving the record a sense of mystique in which his voice is a guest instead of the centerpiece:he adorns it not the other way round.

    The sinister opener "just a room" looms with dread reminiscent of Tim Hecker's Virgins before rising to heavens like a once held breath floating off. "Herem" is so far the centerpiece! It's ushered by pitched whistles and pipes that whirl like pestering flies or fall like bemoaned cries until his vocals tip toe in like careful guides weary of their landscape . "Teeth" is lighter in comparison frolicking in the vein of a prior favorite "just like love" but here there is few moments of relief instead it seems worried as mesmerizing flutes try to calm it. "Pop song" pops with a bright synths that bubble before an enthusiastic sigh washes over it before the song descends into dissonant percussion.

    The title track is a far out guttural reggae trance that moves with the fumes of a hot crowed dance floor. A collage of screams ,sighs and high notes circle the deep mumbling in it's center, a fuk-ing fantastic stand out ! "Eye in the wall" is a drugged manic fever that just builds and builds from senual instructions to "model for me" & "give it up " until a satisfying unleashing of pleasure that took nearly 9 minutes to build once you finally do give it up. "Photograph" sounds straight out of Kamasi washington and growls like an empty stomach before harmonies fit for a cathedral flanks the kick drums like flowers on the mouth of a volcano. "Hellbent" begins like an apocalypse, a horn blares like a siren urging a retreat to safety but here it gets loud before Mike joins sounding like he'd been crying or in an argument . When he says "it's still happening " he sounds distressed, these 6min hold some of the best parts of his discography! "Cenote" is a perfect closer. It rocks you to sleep with an air of acceptance, telling you that whatever it was you experienced throughout the preceeding 6min opus "hellbent" would be okay...and it was.

    Overall "Ugly Season " is a striking project that despite wavering at some parts stands triumphantly in it's ambition. Seemingly sourced from Jenny Hval more ominous compositions (see: blood **** or Portishead this album is a perfect example of making your influences your own as it results in an idiosyncratic abundance music.    … Full Review »
  3. cesardios
    Jun 18, 2022
    10
    This entire album is just so immaculately produced it's almost like ear candy. Photograph has to be one of the best songs I've heard in aThis entire album is just so immaculately produced it's almost like ear candy. Photograph has to be one of the best songs I've heard in a seriously long time.… Full Review »
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