News
22 September 2026 – Perfume Genius Turns Dance Project 'The Lesson' Into Six-Minute Epic 'Natural High'
By Editorial Team - September 22, 2026
Summary
Perfume Genius shares 'Natural High', a six-minute epic from his forthcoming dance collaboration 'The Lesson' with choreographer Kate Wallich.
Key Facts
- Perfume Genius released six-minute composition 'Natural High' for dance collaboration 'The Lesson'.
- Created with choreographer Kate Wallich, drawing thematic inspiration from Elfriede Jelinek's The Piano Teacher.
- Full performance will tour internationally in 2027 including London, Paris, New York, and Los Angeles.
- Entities: Perfume Genius, Mike Hadreas, The Lesson, Natural High, Kate Wallich, Alan Wyffels, Tate Justus, Elfriede Jelinek
- Tags: perfume-genius, the-lesson, natural-high, kate-wallich, art-pop, experimental
Perfume Genius has released 'Natural High', a sprawling new track created for 'The Lesson', his forthcoming music-and-dance collaboration with choreographer Kate Wallich. Mike Hadreas and Wallich have history together, having previously collaborated on 'The Sun Still Burns Here' in 2019, but the newly unveiled song makes it clear this is no throwaway soundtrack commission.
'Natural High' stretches to roughly six minutes and moves from haunted, skeletal folk textures toward much darker electronic territory, gradually turning the room lights from candlelit séance to after-hours basement club. 'The Lesson' takes inspiration from Elfriede Jelinek's novel The Piano Teacher and will become a full touring performance in 2027.
Tour dates currently include Los Angeles, New York, Paris, London, Utrecht, Dublin, Minneapolis and Seattle, with Hadreas performing alongside Alan Wyffels and Tate Justus. For listeners who prefer their Perfume Genius songs emotionally tidy, this one probably arrives without the necessary instruction manual. For everyone exploring experimental pop and modern composition, that is precisely the point: 'Natural High' feels less like background music for movement and more like a fully formed Perfume Genius composition that happens to have choreography waiting for it.