live review: perfume genius. bush hall. 16 may 2011.

bush hall. what a venue. i hadn’t been there before, but the small, seated main room was is perfect for your more intimate acts. perfume genius, or mike to his mum, is one such act.

first up though were anr. the duo were fast, interesting and very, very synthy. even as michael john hancock spoke to the small crowd, you could tell that the reverb from the mic was set at 11. they’re a bit mgmt ish, but without the superiority complex. most of all though, they did what all support should aim to do. they made me want to know more about them.

when perfume genius came onto the stage he was nervous. his voice quiet and faltering as he said hello. he isn’t about crowd interaction or putting on a show though. he wants to get straight to the music and that’s exactly what he did. accompanied by a man who i missed the name of, he flowed through seven or eight songs in quick time. his voice was beautiful, and the piano accompanied him sounding like something from twin peaks (as did the look of the red drape adorned stage). despite the rapturous reception to each and every song, he still seemed nervous when he returned for the two song encore.

i’m sure he’ll grow in confidence as he plays more and more shows, but for now the nervous charm works a treat.