''Set My Heart on Fire Immediately'' is the fifth studio album by

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the " United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, ...

musician

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, dom ...

, released May 15, 2020 through

Matador Records Matador Records is an independent record label, with a roster of mainly indie rock, but also punk rock, experimental rock, alternative rock, and electronic acts. History Matador was created in 1989 by Chris Lombardi in his New York City apart ...

as the follow up to 2017's ''

No Shape ''No Shape'' is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Perfume Genius, released on May 5, 2017, through Matador Records as the follow up to '' Too Bright'' (2014). Background Hadreas was featured on the cover of the March–April ...

''. The album received critical acclaim upon release, with some critics calling it Hadreas' best work to date, praising its exploration of queer themes and homages to 80s pop and classic rock music. ''Set My Heart on Fire Immediately'' is an

art rock Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that generally reflects a challenging or avant-garde approach to rock, or which makes use of modernist, experimental, or unconventional elements. Art rock aspires to elevate rock from entertainment to an art ...

and

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...

album that features elements of

baroque pop Baroque pop (sometimes called baroque rock) is a fusion genre that combines rock music with particular elements of classical music. It emerged in the mid 1960s as artists pursued a majestic, orchestral sound and is identifiable for its appropri ...

art pop Art pop (also typeset art-pop or artpop) is a loosely defined style of pop music influenced by art theories as well as ideas from other art mediums, such as fashion, fine art, cinema, and avant-garde literature. The genre draws on pop ar ...

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s a ...

, funk,

alt-pop Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s wi ...

shoegaze Shoegaze (originally called shoegazing and sometimes conflated with "dream pop") is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback, and overwhelming volu ...

ambient Ambient or Ambiance or Ambience may refer to: Music and sound * Ambience (sound recording), also known as atmospheres or backgrounds * Ambient music, a genre of music that puts an emphasis on tone and atmosphere * ''Ambient'' (album), by Moby * ...

psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science ...

, R&B,

acoustic pop Acoustic music is music that solely or primarily uses instruments that produce sound through acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means. While all music was once acoustic, the retronym "acoustic music" appeared after the adven ...

, disco,

swamp rock Swamp rock is a genre of rock music that originated in the mid-1960s as a fusion of rockabilly and soul music with swamp blues, country music and funk. The genre originated in Louisiana by artists such as Tony Joe White, but was subsequently p ...

chamber Chamber or the chamber may refer to: In government and organizations *Chamber of commerce, an organization of business owners to promote commercial interests *Legislative chamber, in politics *Debate chamber, the space or room that houses deliber ...

doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a genre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chica ...

industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

, and

heartland rock Heartland rock is a genre of rock music characterized by a straightforward, often roots musical style, often with a focus on blue-collar workers, and a conviction that rock music has a social or communal purpose beyond just entertainment. The ...

Background

In an interview with

Jia Tolentino Jia Angeli Carla Tolentino (born 1988) is an American writer and editor. A staff writer for ''The New Yorker,'' she previously worked as deputy editor of ''Jezebel'' and a contributing editor at '' The Hairpin''. Her writing has also appeared in ...

, Mike Hadreas described the album as influenced by his work with choreographer Kate Wallich on a 2019 dance piece titled "The Sun Still Burns Here". Hadreas composed numerous songs for the performance, with two singles, "Eye in the Wall" and "Pop Song" resulting, though neither was included on ''Set My Heart on Fire Immediately.'' Of the experience, Hadreas explained that the themes of embodiment in his prior music were complicated as dance felt "rebellious against isbody." He explained that dancing "blew up this separation between iswork and the world," resulting in changes to his songwriting, with songs now telling stories grounded in real-life settings and about real people. He cited

Townes Van Zandt John Townes Van Zandt (March 7, 1944 – January 1, 1997) was an American singer-songwriter.

Enya Enya Patricia Brennan (; ga, Eithne Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin; born 17 May 1961), known professionally by the mononym Enya, is an Irish singer, songwriter, and musician known for modern Celtic music. She is the best-selling Irish solo arti ...

, and

Cocteau Twins Cocteau Twins was a Scottish rock band active from 1979 to 1997. They were formed in Grangemouth by Robin Guthrie (guitars, drum machine) and Will Heggie (bass), adding Elizabeth Fraser (vocals) in 1981 and replacing Heggie with multi-instru ...

as influences on the new album.

Critical reception

''Set My Heart on Fire Immediately'' received rave reviews. At review aggregator

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that 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 average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

score of 91 out of 100, based on 25 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim" and making it Perfume Genius' highest rated album on the website.

Accolades

Track listing

Personnel

Musicians *

Mike Hadreas 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, dom ...

– vocals (all tracks), synthesizers (1, 2, 5, 7, 10, 12, 13),

Wurlitzer The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...

(4) *

Blake Mills Blake Mills (born September 21, 1986) is an American songwriter, guitarist, producer, and composer based in California. Biography Blake Mills was born in Santa Monica, California, United States, and grew up in Malibu, where he attended Malib ...

– guitar (1–3, 7–9, 11, 12), bass (1, 3, 4, 7, 9, 11), synthesizers (1, 4, 8, 10, 12, 13), drums (1),

glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( or , : bells and : set) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the vibraphone. The ...

(1), synth guitar (6, 11), harmony vocals (6, 10, 11), organ (8, 10), piano (11, 12), synth drums (12),

harmonium The pump organ is a type of free-reed organ that generates sound as air flows past a vibrating piece of thin metal in a frame. The piece of metal is called a reed. Specific types of pump organ include the reed organ, harmonium, and melodeon. T ...

(13) *

Matt Chamberlain Matthew Chamberlain (born April 17, 1967) is an American session musician, drummer, producer and songwriter. Biography Life and career Chamberlain was born in San Pedro, California on April 17, 1967. He began learning how to play the drum ...

– additional drums (1), drums (4, 6, 7, 10, 12) *

Rob Moose Rob Moose (born 1982) is an American multi-instrumentalist, arranger, producer, conductor, and orchestrator. He primarily plays the violin, viola, and guitar. Early life and education Moose was born in 1982. He was raised in Windsor, Connec ...

– violin (1, 3–5, 9, 13), viola (1, 3–5, 9, 13) * Alan Wyffels – piano (1, 12), organ (3, 9), harpsichord (4), synthesizers (5, 8, 12), harmony vocals (7), flute (8), Wurlitzer (12),

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the S ...

(13) *

Jim Keltner James Lee Keltner (born April 27, 1942) is an American drummer and percussionist known primarily for his session work. He was characterized by Bob Dylan biographer Howard Sounes as "the leading session drummer in America".Howard Sounes. ''Down ...

– drums (2, 3, 9, 11) *

Pino Palladino Giuseppe Henry "Pino" Palladino (born 17 October 1957) is a Welsh musician, songwriter, and record producer. A prolific session bassist, he has played bass for acts such as The Who, the John Mayer Trio, Nine Inch Nails, Gary Numan, Jeff Beck ...

– bass (2, 6, 7) * Gabriel Cabezas – cello (3, 4, 9, 13) * Sam Gendel – synthesizers (4), saxophone (7, 8, 12), synth drums (7), drum machine (7, 10) *

Phoebe Bridgers Phoebe Lucille Bridgers (born August 17, 1994) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. She has released two solo albums, '' Stranger in the Alps'' (2017) and '' Punisher'' (2020), both of which received critical accla ...

– harmony vocals (6) * Ethan Gruska – harmony vocals (6), vocals (6), percussion (6) Engineers *

– production * Joseph Lorge – engineering * Greg Koller – engineering, mixing * Patricia Sullivan – mastering * Ian Sefchick – mastering Artwork * Camille Vivier – photographs * Andrew J. S. – art direction

Charts

Remix album

A remix album, titled ''IMMEDIATELY Remixes'', was announced on January 14, 2021. It was initially announced for release on February 19, 2021, however it was delayed until March 12, 2021. It received a limited vinyl release for

Record Store Day Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...

2021. It was preceded by the singles, "On the Floor (Initial Talk Remix)", "Without You (Jim-E Stack Remix)", "Your Body Changes Everything (Boy Harsher Remix)", and "Describe (A. G. Cook Remix)", released April 29, 2020, December 3, 2020, January 14, 2021, and March 3, 2021, respectively.

Track listing

References

{{Authority control 2020 albums Perfume Genius albums Matador Records albums Albums produced by Blake Mills