As Fragrance Genius, Mike Hadreas boasts a Madonna-like present for transformation. There was the boardroom diva of 2014’s Too Vivid, the rococo Victorian dandy of 2018’s No Form, and the dirt-streaked Tom of Finland homages of 2020’s Set My Coronary heart on Fireplace Instantly; now, as poisonous masculinity and poisonous nationalism develop into ever extra inextricable, he’s gone Hells Angel. Within the music video for “It’s a Mirror,” the lead single from his forthcoming new album, Glory, Hadreas dons a leather-based racing jacket, drinks gasoline, and straddles a Harley. Such imagery has lengthy been part of the queer lexicon (biker gear is likely one of the foremost flavors of fetishwear), however as offered right here—Hadreas gussied up in a bustier and heeled boots, flinging himself over the handlebars like a fae Rose DeWitt—it’s dragged firmly past the cultural salt circle of machismo.
As for the tune itself, “It’s a Mirror” is a slice of gothic Americana that wouldn’t be misplaced beneath the opening credit of True Blood. Working once more with longtime collaborator Blake Mills, however this time with a full band within the studio, Hadreas ushers in a muscular and direct sound that appears like a decisive pendular swing again from the diffuse ambiance of 2022’s Ugly Season. Hadreas himself has by no means sounded sexier or extra assured as a frontman, and whereas this isn’t Fragrance Genius’ first foray into twang—see “Describe” or the Orbison-esque “Entire Life”—“It’s a Mirror” stakes its declare in a musical custom that, although it’s all the time been house to outlaws, can simply as usually breed a festering myopia. “What do I get out of being established?” Hadreas sings, “I nonetheless run and conceal when a person’s on the door.” He’s all the time been finest at taking part in the bandit.