Perfume Genius Premieres New Song “Natural High”

“Dance has become a vital part of my live performances over the last few years, Perfume Genius’ Mike Hadreas said in 2019 while announcing The Sun Still Burns Here, a collaborative show with choreographer Kate Wallich. That quote certainly didn’t come as a surprise to longtime fans of Hadreas, nor will his next project, The Lesson, which sees him reunite with Wallich for “a live music and dance performance” inspired by The Piano Teacher (both the Elfriede Jelinek novel and its Michael Haneke film adaptation). The work features a score from Hadreas and is led by single “Natural High,” the first new Perfume Genius music since his 2025 album Glory. The track—co-produced by Fashion Club’s Pascal Stevenson—along with dates for The Lesson, can be found below.

“When we started searching for a framework for this new piece, we kept coming back to The Piano Teacher,” Wallich writes in press materials. “We are all drawn to the dynamics between what is good and what is bad...how we’re supposed to behave, and how we aren’t, how to balance desire and restraint.” Adds Hadreas, “I’ve always thought of my albums as soundtracks to films that do not exist. There is a freedom to inhabiting something imagined and purely sonic. I can be every character or not exist at all or body swap at will. Scenes can shift immediately just because I feel like it. That doesn’t change when creating a performance with Kate, all the mystery and thrill of going somewhere lawless and dreamlike stays intact - but I’m not alone in building the world and it literally fleshes out in real time. Body swapping feels very different when you are actually in a room holding the other person.”

The Lesson
02-06 North Adams, MA - MASS MoCA (Work-in-Progress Showing)
02-18 Los Angeles, CA - Redcat
02-20 Los Angeles, CA - Redcat
02-25 Los Angeles, CA - Redcat
02-26 Los Angeles, CA - Redcat
02-27 Los Angeles, CA - Redcat
03-04 New York, NY - Baryshnikov Arts Center
03-05 New York, NY - Baryshnikov Arts Center
03-06 New York, NY - Baryshnikov Arts Center
03-17 Paris, France - Philharmonie de Paris
03-18 Paris, France - Philharmonie de Paris
03-21 London, England Barbican Centre
03-24 Utrecht, Netherlands - Birds of Paradise Festival
03-27 Dublin, Ireland - National Concert Hall
04-01 Minneapolis, MN - National Concert Hall
04-09 Seattle, WA - The 5th Avenue Theatre

Alex Suskind has overseen music coverage for New York magazine’s Vulture and, before that, Entertainment Weekly. He has written about TV, film, technology, politics, and tons of other stuff for The Guardian, Vanity Fair, and The Fader. ... Read More