Grimes - Visions

This may well be the third studio album from Vancouver musician Grimes, but forgive me if I treat it as I treat debut records. The world has largely been kept away from her music thus far, but Visions surely deserves to change that. Real name Claire Boucher, her third release has secured almost universal praise and it's about bloody time I joined that bandwagon.

There's an interesting parallel between her work and the work of Zola Jesus - both have enjoyed a deep exploration with the dark and the ethereal in their music over the past 3 years and their first two albums have been met a little tentatively. Both of their thirds have focussed more heavily on the songwriting and the overall thematics of the record, and as you may have seen in my Conatus review, that's certainly a great development.


Its intro, 'Infinite ♡ Without Fulfillment' initiates a certain amount of 80s dark-pop that only reinforces the Zola Jesus comparisons. But there's also a clear K-Pop influence here, perhaps thanks to the unclear, sweet and sometimes shrill vocals. Said vocals are layered in rather unusual constructs, though, and the effect is distancing and a little creepy. 'Genesis' though opts for a much simpler and safer synth-based melody that, with its high-pitch meditations, reminds me a lot of last year's PJ Harvey album and its bugle on The Glorious Land. The words "my heart will never be free" are repeated to a deceptively chipper melody, but in such a pained and breathy vocal that it's not lost on the listener. The electronics are amplified on 'Oblivion', a kind of TRON-like dream-sequence with intrusive synths and robotic inclusions doing their best to add suspense to an already excellent song.

'Eight' sees an increase in the robotic overthrow, and here Boucher's vocals begin to become a little irritatingly high in parts. The instrumental however is faultless - more so on 'Circumambient', a track that draws heavy influence from the early 90s house music scene with an extremely catchy and disorienting melody. Lyrics are purposefully indecipherable, sounding at times nightmarish, but the effect is only more enchanting. 'Vowels = Space and Time' is slightly easier to figure out, sacrificing a little breathiness in the way of a stronger, poppier tune. A tribal influence in the way of its percussion, 'Visiting Statue' sounds like something that could slot easily into the soundtrack of a Legend of Zelda game, with a strong self-explorative tone.

There are moments of genuine catchiness in amongst all of the disillusionment, though. 'Be A Body (侘寂)' is as orchestrated towards the masses as an electropop song as they come, with horns and a foot-tapping drumbeat. 'Colour of Moonlight (Antiochus)' attributes some of the weirdness to lunar influence, before howling and baying to it. Tribal beats and a bit of a horror-theme tune make it on paper one of the most eerie listening experiences but in amongst the rest of Visions it feels relatively standard. 'Symphonia IX (My Wait is U)' then forcibly reigns in the wolves and replaces them with low chants and a chirpy melody.


Dolphin noises, choirs and strings welcome 'Nightmusic', one of the album's highlights with its multi-layered sounds. 'Skin' is strongly influenced by the British trip-hop scene and feels like waking from a coma, whilst running water and an extremely poppy guitar sing us out on 'Know the Way', the outro. I'd recommend this more as an album listen rather than something to stick on your iPod and go shuffle-crazy. Because tracks segue into each other quite nicely and build towards a heightened atmospheric effect, it makes a fascinating listen that might not last particularly long if indulged in snippets.

Rating: 8.5/10
Highlights: Genesis, Circumambient, Oblivion,
Avoid: Eight

Artwork Watch: More albums need the Cyrillic alphabet involved somewhere, I have come to conclude.
For fans of: Asobi Seksu, Daft Punk,