''Too Bright'' is the third album by American singer

Perfume Genius Michael Alden Hadreas (born September 25, 1981), better known by his stage name Perfume Genius, is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Hadreas's music explores topics including sexuality, his personal struggle with Crohn's disease, do ...

, released on September 23, 2014. The album reached number 77 on the UK Albums chart and peaked at number 83 in the United States.

Critical reception

''Too Bright'' has received critical acclaim.

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, gave the album an average score of 87, which indicates "universal acclaim". Brandon Stosuy of ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...

'' gave the album a very positive review, stating, "A huge part of what makes the work so strong is the generous human spirit that bleeds into it, and ''Too Bright'' is the best example to date of the lengths he goes to confront his fears and demons. These songs feel less like songs and more like treasures, ones that fill you with power and wisdom, and as a result, ''Too Bright'' seems capable of resonating with, comforting, and moving anyone who's ever felt alienated, discriminated against, or "other-ized," regardless of sexual orientation." The album was given a score of 8.5 and was titled Best New Music.

Artwork

The album artwork was shot by

Luke Gilford Luke Gilford (born 1986) is a director, writer, and photographer based in New York City, NY and Los Angeles, CA. He has directed several award-winning short films, including ''The Future of Flesh'', which showcased Prada collection narrated by Ja ...

and it showcases an androgynous Perfume Genius. It would encompass a bold and proud theme throughout ''Too Bright''.

Conception and development

In an interview for ''Refinery29'', Perfume Genius said, "I don’t know, for a long time I had been kind of constantly seeking reassurance and acceptance all over the place, and wanting to be taken seriously but waiting for someone else to do it for me, do you know what I mean?.” He explains that this was a more serious approach to making this album. ''Too Bright'' further explores topics on sexuality, empowerment, and queer identity.

Track listing

Personnel

Main personnel * Mike Hadreas – vocals, piano (1, 4, 6, 10), synth (3, 7, 9, 10), keyboards (2, 8), gong (5), handclaps (8), wurlitzer (11), composer, additional recording *

Adrian Utley Adrian Francis Utley (born 27 April 1957) is an English musician and producer, and a member of the band Portishead.Jurek, ThomAdrian Utley Biography, Allmusic. Retrieved 31 December 2016 Career Born in Northampton,Mejia, Paula (2015)In Search ...

– synth (2, 3, 5, 7, 8), bass guitar (2, 3, 5, 11), guitar (1, 11), winebox (5), fuzz bass (7), handclaps (8), engineer, mixing, producer * Alan Wyffels – synth (3, 4, 8, 10), keyboards (2, 5), piano (6) * Jim Barr – double bass (3, 4, 6) * Herve Becart – drums (3, 5, 8) * Ross Hughes – bass clarinet (3, 4, 10), saxophone (7) *

John Parish John Parish (born 11 April 1959) is an English musician, songwriter, composer and record producer. Parish is best known for his work with singer-songwriter PJ Harvey. He has also worked with such artists as Eels, Aldous Harding, Tracy Chapm ...

– drums (2, 7, 8, 11), shaker (5) Additional personnel * Greg Calbi – mastering * Ali Chant – engineer, mixing, producer, handclaps (8) * Alison Fielding – design * Luke Gilford – photography

Charts

Pop culture

*"Too Bright" was featured on the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

legal drama A legal drama is a genre of film and television that generally focuses on narratives regarding legal practice and the justice system. The American Film Institute (AFI) defines "courtroom drama" as a genre of film in which a system of justice play ...

How to Get Away with Murder ''How to Get Away with Murder'' is an American legal thriller television series that premiered on ABC on September 25, 2014, and concluded on May 14, 2020. The series was created by Peter Nowalk, and produced by Shonda Rhimes and ABC Studios ...

's'' second season finale. *"Queen" was featured in the season one episode "eps1.3_da3m0ns.mp4" and season four episode "Hello, Elliot" of the

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...

television series ''

Mr. Robot ''Mr. Robot'' is an American drama thriller television series created by Sam Esmail for USA Network. It stars Rami Malek as Elliot Alderson, a cybersecurity engineer and hacker with social anxiety disorder, clinical depression and dissociati ...

''. *"Queen" was featured on the Hulu television series ''

The Great This is a list of people known as the Great, or the equivalent, in their own language. Other languages have their own suffixes, such as Persian ''e Bozorg'' and Urdu ''e Azam''. In Persia, the title "the Great" at first seems to have been a co ...

'' in the season two episode titled "Heads It's Me".

References

{{Authority control 2014 albums Perfume Genius albums Matador Records albums LGBT-related albums