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Mar 16, 2020 By Christopher Roberts Perfume Genius

Perfume Genius (aka Mike Hadreas) is releasing a new album, Set My Heart On Fire Immediately, on May 15 via Matador. Now he has shared another song from it, “On the Floor,” via a self-directed video for the song. Watch it below, followed by Perfume Genius’ upcoming tour dates opening for Tame Impala.

Hadreas had this to say about “On the Floor” in a press release: “A crush can really live on its own, separate from you and the person you are pining for. The fantasy feels like its own world, obsession can turn the person you are longing for in to a monument that has less and less to do with them and more to do with the idea of love itself and what it can do, what it can soothe or quiet or light on fire. I wanted to show that maddening, solitary part of desire but keep the core which is a real warmth and belief that you have something crucial to share with each other.”

Previously Hadreas shared the album’s first single, “Describe,” via a self-directed video for the track. “Describe” was one of our Songs of the Week.

Set My Heart On Fire Immediately is Perfume Genius’ fifth studio album, the follow-up to 2017’s No Shape (also on Matador). Although last year Hadreas did the music for the immersive dance project The Sun Still Burns Here.

Set My Heart On Fire Immediately finds Hadreas re-teaming with producer Blake Mills. It was recorded in Los Angeles, where Hadreas currently lives with longtime partner and musical collaborator Alan Wyffels. The album also features musicians Jim Keltner, Pino Palladino, Matt Chamberlin, and Rob Moose.

According to a previous press release, on Set My Heart On Fire Immediately Hadreas “plays with themes of love, sex, memory and the body, channeling popular music mythologies while irreverently authoring its own.”

Hadreas explained further in the press release: “I wanted to feel more open, more free and spiritually wild, and I’m in a place now where those feelings are very close – but it can border on being unhinged. I wrote these songs as a way to be more patient, more considered – to pull at all these chaotic threads hovering around me and weave them in to something warm, thoughtful and comforting.”

For The Sun Still Burns Here Hadreas collaborated with Seattle-based choreographer Kate Wallich and her dance company The YC. Hadreas said that working with them also inspired Set My Heart On Fire Immediately.

“I had been working with them for a year and a half,” he explained. “With lots of rehearsals, lots of performances, lots of relationships and energies, and I was feeling connected to my body. I was feeling connected to all their bodies. And having boundaries be blurred and having rules be gone and having all this play within nonsense and absurdity – in tandem with a real connection and truly valuable work.”

Read our 2017 interview with Perfume Genius on No Shape.

Perfume Genius Tour Dates:

05/29/20 - Chicago, IL @ United Center#
05/30/20 - Milwaukee, WI @ Fiserv Forum#
05/31/20 - Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena#
06/02/20 - Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena#
06/03/20 - Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre#
06/05/20 - Randall’s Island, NY @ Governors Ball
06/06/20 - Washington, DC @ Capital One Arena#
06/08/20 - Charlotte, NC @ Spectrum Center#
06/09/20 - Atlanta, GA @ State Farm Arena#
06/11/20 - Miami, FL @ AmericanAirlines Arena#
06/12/20 - Orlando, FL @ Amway Center#
06/14/20 - Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo
07/17/20 - Minneapolis, MN @ Xcel Energy Center#
07/19/20 - St. Louis, MO @ Enterprise Center#
07/20/20 - Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center#
07/21/20 - Tulsa, OK @ BOK Center# - Tickets
07/23/20 - Austin, TX @ Frank Erwin Center#
07/24/20 - Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center#
07/25/20 - Houston, TX @ Toyota Center#
07/28/20 - Glendale, AZ @ Gila River Arena#
07/30/20 - Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center#
08/01/20 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Vivint Smart Home Arena#
08/03/20 - Portland, OR @ MODA Center#
08/05/20 - Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena#
08/07/20 - George, WA @ The Gorge Amphitheatre#

# = support for Tame Impala

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