Perfume Genius lines up October UK dates

Dunno about you guys, but Ragged Words has been crying itself to sleep these past few weeks listening to Learning, the debut LP from Seattle native Mike Hadreas, aka Perfume Genius. Half an hour of swirling, piano-led ballads pitched somewhere between the back porch intimacy of Sufjan Stevens and Antony Hegarty’s haunting pop-cabaret, it’s an album that looks set to become one of 2010’s sleeper hits as summer fades and darkness draws in.

Truth is we’re not quite sure what these songs might sound like live – unsettling would be one word that springs to mind. We should soon get the chance to find out, however, as Hadreas’ British label Turnstile Music has just announced details of a brief European tour this October, including a total of five UK dates. Details of exactly when and where are below:

18.10 – Manchester @ St. Phillip’s Church
19.10 – London @ Cecil Sharp House
21.10 – Bristol @ The Cube
22.10 – Brighton @ The Hope
23.10 – Cardiff @ SWN Festival

 
No sign of any Irish dates just yet, but we reckon stranger things have happened. Watch this space.
Meanwhile, we were sort of lying when we said we had no idea how Learning might translate to a live setting. Because we’ve seen it being done, you see. Well, YouTube videos of it being done anyway. Click here to go to Turnstile’s site, where you can see Hadreas perform four songs from the album in what looks like a cold, dark church, but is probably some sort of ‘moody’ MySpace studio in L.A.
 
UPDATE: You can hear a Perfume Genius session recorded for BBC Radio 1’s Huw Stephens by tuning in tonight from midnight. Do it!