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Thursday, May 11, 2017

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com ARTS

‘No Shape’ is bold

‘Guardians Vol. 2’ thrives

FILM REVIEW
MUSIC REVIEW

By SEAN LANG

Daily Arts Writer

The work of Mike Hadreas
— the Seattle native behind
Perfume Genius — was,
at least until 2014’s Too
Bright, always lo-fi and
poignantly intimate. Dark
narratives that confront
depression, sexuality and
the dangers of being gay
characterize his first two
efforts, Learning (2010) and
Put Your Back N 2 It (2012).
On Too Bright, the tinny
piano and fragile croon
metamorphosed into men-
acing drones and piercing
screeches. The deviation in
form from Too Bright to No
Shape is equally as impres-
sive as that between his
second and third records.
Anger and frustration, pal-
pable on Too Bright, are
almost entirely absent here,
and Hadreas’s new mindset
is perhaps best explained
by a lyric from “Just Like
Love”: “They’ll talk / Give
them every reason.” It’s not
necessarily that his anger
has subsided; he has sim-
ply shifted focus, from the
world outside to his per-
sonal life.
If anything is immediately
apparent about No Shape, it
is that it will be praised for
being Hadreas’s most mature
or developed work — pri-
marily because it is, both
thematically and sonically.
It also functions as a thor-
oughly satisfying denouement
for his discography thus far.
Learning and Put Your Back
were as bare-bones as albums
come, reflections of a newly
sober Hadreas with an uncer-
tain future. Too Bright saw
Hadreas in control enough to
express not just sorrow but
fury. Now, No Shape, a reflec-
tion on Mike’s almost eight
years with his boyfriend Alan
and eight years of sobriety, is
rich with textures, the sort
that augment and, ironically,
embody the somewhat vague
notion of having “no shape.”
Upon first listen, you might
wish that Hadreas hadn’t

released singles “Slip Away”
and “Go Ahead” before the
album itself. “Slip Away,”
the most triumphant and
accessible song of No Shape,
proudly announced the direc-
tion of the album, and “Go
Ahead” signified a level of
experimentation to the same
degree as found on Too Bright.
Both tracks are stunning, and
together express Hadreas’s
impressive range, but the
album’s opening song, “Oth-
erside,”
would have
been
a

much more
suitable,
bait-and-
switch style
introduc-
tion.
The

track opens
with
the

same tinny-
sounding
piano of Learning and Put
Your Back, but after a minute
it explodes with a shimmer-
ing synth M83-style. Regard-
less, no album in 2017 has a
better start than No Shape, as
“Otherside” launches directly
into the joyful protest of “Slip
Away.”
From there, the album
sprawls in multiple directions.
The lush strings — a new addi-
tion to Hadreas’s aesthetic
— that are introduced during
the chorus of the reassuring
“Just Like Love” return on
“Valley,” the album’s most
direct reference to Hadreas’s
struggles
with
addiction:

“How long must we live right
/ Before we don’t even have
to try?” In between the two,
the offputtingly synthetic “Go
Ahead” is No Shape’s “Queen”
equivalent, an appropriately
prideful but casual reminder
to anyone still trying to write
off Hadreas for his “weird-
ness” that they will never be
in the right as far as Hadreas
is concerned.
What’s so impressive about
No Shape isn’t just the breadth
of sonic territory it covers,
but its ability to do so while
also capturing, in many ways,
the essence of camp in all

its effeminate and kitschy
glory. “Wreath,” which ref-
erences a Kate Bush song,
functions as the album’s mis-
sion statement: “Burn off
every trace / I wanna hover
with no shape / I wanna see
the days go by.” This song,
along with the Weyes Blood-
featuring “Sides” and “Run
Me Through” seem to invoke
Angelo Badalamenti’s “Twin
Peaks” soundtrack, with sim-
ple but hard-edged bass and

a pervasive air
of mystery. “Die
4 You,” Hadreas
told
Fader
in

an
interview,

is about erotic
asphyxiation.
“Braid”
recalls

the
work
of

Vincent
Gallo

with it’s doused,
drowned-out
quality,
while

“Choir” feels like a consider-
ably more evil manifestation
of Learning’s “Mr. Peterson,”
with its closing lines, sung by
Hadreas’s voice overlaid with
a lower one, “What if I prom-
ise / To keep it quiet,” before
the melody dissolves into cha-
otic chimes.
With its ostensible focus on
transcending the physical, it
would be easy to miss the ulti-
mate focus of No Shape with-
out its closer, “Alan” — named,
of course, for Hadreas’s boy-
friend. Despite his desire for
metaphysicality,
Hadreas

finally comes to rest, still
mystified, on the conclusion:
“I’m here / How weird.” On
paper, the four words seem
too plaintive to invoke feeling,
but Hadreas’s soaring croon
could probably evoke goose-
bumps even if he were singing
about shaving one’s nose hair
(or any number of other equally
romantic activities). Whether he
means that he is literally there
with Alan or simply here, on
Earth, is left a mystery. What
is absolutely clear, however, is
that No Shape should solidify
Perfume Genius as not just one
of the most important LGBT
acts today, but as one of the most
important acts today, period.

By JEREMIAH VANHER-

HELM

Daily Arts Writer

The one thing that must be

said about “Guardians of the
Galaxy Vol. 2,” by those who
will love it and those who
don’t, is that it aspires to be
bigger than the first in every
way. The action is bigger and
more inventive. The cast not
only adds new characters
but adds new layers to the
old ones. There are so many
jokes packed into every scene
— every line of dialogue —

that
the

whole
thing
starts
to

feel remi-
niscent
of
“The

LEGO
Movie.”

In many ways, this lends

the new “Guardians” movie
a freshness that it might
otherwise lack, and with the
ever-confident direction of
James Gunn (“Super”) once
again leading the charge, the
resulting film is sure to be
one of the most deliriously
entertaining films of the year.
From an early gag that takes
the action movie staple of
the pointless opening fight
scene and gleefully flips it on
its head to the last of the five
pre/mid/post-credits sting-
ers, every scene of “Guard-
ians Vol. 2” will in some way
elicit a smile. Not every joke
lands, but considering the
sheer volume of one-liners
and witticisms tossed about,
that’s hardly a problem.

Of course, all of the humor

would be pointless if “Guard-
ians of the Galaxy” didn’t star

the most entertaining ensem-
ble in the entire Marvel Cine-
matic Universe. This is where
Gunn does his best work;
while the film may have been
good had it centered on the
humor, Gunn continues the
character-driven
approach

that made his first entry such
a treat. These characters
are, by their own admission,
“a-holes,” and “Guardians
Vol. 2” doesn’t just give lip
service to that idea: It full-
on embraces it and uses the
Guardians’ most unlikeable
aspects as the driving force
of the story.

This allows Gunn, both

as writer and director, to
add new layers to his leads
and
their
relationships.

Nowhere is this more evi-
dent
than
with
Yondu

(Michael
Rooker,
“The

Walking Dead”) and his first
mate, Kraglin (Sean Gunn,
“The Belko Experiment”),
who go from being sec-
ondary antagonists in the
first film to the characters
behind some of the sequel’s
funniest and most emotion-
al moments. There’s even
laudable restraint shown
with Baby Groot (Vin Die-
sel, “Fate of the Furious”),
whose sheer adorableness
could easily have caused
him to take up exorbitant
amounts of screen time, like-
ly with few complaints from
the audience.

One new addition to the

team comes in the form of
Mantis (Pom Klementieff,
“Oldboy”), an alien empath
who strikes up a strange yet
endearing relationship with
Drax and winds up being a
highlight, even among the
already established charac-

ters. The scenes she shares
with Dave Bautista (“Spec-
tre”) also gives the former
pro-wrestler further oppor-
tunity to flex his acting
muscles. Bautista already
proved his comedy chops in
the original, and he shows
the same talent for comedy
here, but his best moment is
completely dialogue free and
reliant on surprisingly subtle
facial expressions. It’s a truly
impressive bit of acting.

This greater scope allows

Gunn to tell a unique and
more emotional story, but
it does come at a cost to the
pacing. The character-cen-
tric scenes and comedy bits
are great on their own, but
there are several moments
where the two must come
right on each other’s heels
with little warning. It may
seem like a nitpick, but the
resultant
tonal
whiplash

inevitably robs one moment
or the other of its weight.

That aside, “Guardians of

the Galaxy Vol. 2” is nothing
short of a delight. Its pacing
issues mean it may not meet
the sky high expectations
set by the first, but consid-
ering the original is one of
the most purely entertain-
ing cinematic experiences
of the last decade, that’s by
no means a serious issue.
Instead, Gunn focuses on
growing his first entry into
the MCU wherever he can.
“Guardians Vol. 2” is fun-
nier than the original, the
action is better shot, the
characters are better devel-
oped and by the end, it has
become a surprisingly mov-
ing story. Fans of the origi-
nal rejoice. James Gunn has
done it again.

Guardians of
the Galaxy 2

Walt Disney
Stuidios

Goodrich 16/
Rave Cinemas

WALT DISNEY STUDIOS

“Guradians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” stars in their battle positions

‘No Shade’

Perfume
Genius

Matador
Records

MOVIE REVIEW