Preview: Perfume Genius at The Lincoln Theater on March 31

On Tuesday at the Lincoln Theater, Perfume Genius returns to Washington, DC, less than a year since his last show in the capital. This time, though, fans are in for a different kind of performance.

Mike Hadreas, the man behind the moniker, will take the stage not with a full band, but with a single counterpart – Alan Wyffels. Longtime collaborators and partners, the pair announced their marriage this past September.

Their duo show promises to showcase Hadreas’ recent, unexpected evolution. After years of expanding his sound through bold production, instrumental diversity, and compositional tact, Hadreas took a step forward by stripping things back. His recently released LP Glory contains signature, vulnerable lyrics, but over more minimal arrangements. Hadreas’ sonic shift pushed him to rely not on auditory catharsis, but precise simplicity, to showcase his vulnerability. Glory’s space allows audiences to sit with Hadreas’ layered expression, each element meaningful in its own right rather than part of one composite vision. The show fits this new chapter: with only two performers to focus on, audiences will have room to take in every deliberate moment.

What’s more, the duo setup is sure to draw out the seeming source of this shift. As his first work since his marriage, Glory is Hadreas at his truest. Perhaps in bringing Wyffles and Wyffles alone on stage at his side, Hadreas means to show fans who helped him reveal this version of Perfume Genius. In this intimate, retrained performance, maybe fans will even get a whiff of how they did it.