Syllable stress in perché

This is a pronunciation/writing question (not sure which forum category I'm supposed to use). The word perché has an acute accent over the "e." My understanding was that in such a case, the second syllable should be stressed with a closed vowel. However, in listening to the audio clips (I'm on lesson 1.4, but also looked up the clips in 5.3 and 5.7), it sounds like the first syllable, instead of the second syllable, is stressed. Am I just hearing it wrong? Or am I not understanding the pronunciation rule regarding accents? Thanks very much in advance.