Glory

It’s the shortest Perfume Genius album since Too Bright, but it’s so texturally dense and stylistically ambitious that it should immediately be considered his greatest invention—as it seamlessly updates familiar Perfume Genius concepts with unflinching curiosity, raises the bar of his own excellence and finds beautiful, generous order and renewal in the mess Set My Heart on Fire Immediately left behind.

The moments of splendor promised by the album’s title aren’t blinding bursts of passion but quiet triumphs of the spirit.

‘Glory’ stands as testimony to the ongoing creative confidence of Perfume Genius, and the towering intentionality that streams through his work. With nothing left to prove, he’s redoubled his efforts, and added another Everest to his catalogue.

Glory spotlights Hadreas as he mines this incarnation, its abundant beauty and messiness. He’s left a window to that alt-life open, however, and the winds from that realm gust through these songs.

With its fresh simplicity, Glory is a blazing return to form for Perfume Genius, who, on his seventh album, has come full circle as a pop star that has never been afraid to emerge as something brand new, familiar, or even as No Shape at all.