Perfume Genius, the recording project of singer and songwriter Mike Hadreas, released “Natural High” on September 22. Co-produced with musician Pascal Stevenson of Fashion Club, the single introduces music from The Lesson, Hadreas’s new performance with choreographer Kate Wallich.
Novelist Elfriede Jelinek’s The Piano Teacher and filmmaker Michael Haneke’s screen adaptation inform The Lesson, which its presenters describe as an investigation of desire, restraint and learned behavior. ““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,” Hadreas said in a statement.
Hadreas and Wallich’s 2019 dance work The Sun Still Burns Here supplied the music for Ugly Season, released in 2022. Hadreas produced that album with musician and producer Blake Mills, with musician Alan Wyffels also collaborating. Songs including “Pop Song” and “Eye in the Wall” reached listeners during the original performance project, before the full score appeared on record.
Wyffels joins Hadreas, Wallich and performer Tate Justus in The Lesson. The four-person work combines new compositions with existing Perfume Genius songs, according to Northrop, one of its commissioners. Part of its development took place during a residency at the Minneapolis venue in May 2024.
“Natural High” follows Glory (Extended), released on February 27 with four additional tracks, including “Jamie” and “Body of Evidence.” The expanded edition followed the original Glory album in 2025.
Perfume Genius and Kate Wallich will tour The Lesson from February 6 to April 9, 2027.
The Lesson 2027 tour dates:
February 6: North Adams, MA — MASS MoCA (Work-in-Progress Showing)
February 18: Los Angeles, CA — REDCAT
February 20: Los Angeles, CA — REDCAT
February 25: Los Angeles, CA — REDCAT
February 26: Los Angeles, CA — REDCAT
February 27: Los Angeles, CA — REDCAT
March 4: New York, NY — Baryshnikov Arts Center
March 5: New York, NY — Baryshnikov Arts Center
March 6: New York, NY — Baryshnikov Arts Center
March 17: Paris, France — Philharmonie de Paris
March 18: Paris, France — Philharmonie de Paris
March 21: London, England — Barbican Centre
March 24: Utrecht, Netherlands — Birds of Paradise Festival
March 27: Dublin, Ireland — National Concert Hall
April 1: Minneapolis, MN — Northrop
April 9: Seattle, WA — The 5th Avenue Theatre
