Visions by Grimes

‘Visions’ is the first release from Grimes (Claire Boucher) for UK indie label 4AD. Grimes has been responsible for some of the most exciting new releases over the last couple of years. She has managed to carve a unique and recognisable sound layering and looping her distinct voice against constructed drum patterns and synthesisers. Her 2010 releases ‘Geidi Primes’ and ‘Halfaxa’ showed great promise but felt a little rough around the edges. In 2011 Grimes release the 12” split ‘Darkbloom’ with D’eon giving us the superb track ‘Vanessa’ and immediately her craft seemed more honed and considered, resulting in one of 2011's  finest pop records.  

After this Grimes signed to 4AD and during the writing and recording of her new album, announced that she considered it to be her first ‘real’ album. Listening to ‘Visions’ you can hear why. Immediately it feels a league ahead of her earlier releases. A step further than ‘Vanessa’ too with an exciting blend of well crafted songs and experimental interludes. These qualities provide vibrancy and texture that now seem absent from here early albums.

The two pre-release singles ‘Genesis’ and ‘Oblivion’ pick up right where she left off, jumping back into to catchy world of pop vocal loops and double tracking. This time though it’s better! Far less blatant with it’s melodies but just as infectious. The constant holding these songs together lies in the vocals. Her ethereal voice drenched in reverb pushes the Dreampop feel of the record, reminiscent of ‘Cocteau Twins’ but with added bounce, often building and looping into a swirling musical mess. In ‘Vowels = Space and Time’ they stray into delay finishes giving the sound a glitch feel whilst placing emphasis on the rhythmic qualities of the music. There is a far fuller sound to ‘Visions’ with a greater approach to control in terms of the types of samples used. The two collaborative contributions ‘Colour of Moonlight’ and ‘Nightmusic’ offer further sounds and textures with the latter delivering a more built up dance beat. This is followed up by ‘Skin’, a step down in tempo and my personal favourite moment of the album. A simplistic synth pattern works with an all together gentler and more delicate vocal to serve up a real shining moment.

The final track acts as a coda, tying off all the interlude moments across ‘Visions’ as a suite. Opening with an isolated recording of a stream, the musical qualities carry you into a gentle slow pulsating end to the record. For me, all these moments hold this together as a complete record in ways I felt Grimes’ music had lacked up until now. Her work to date has either sat deeply in pop or remained exclusively experimental, and these two worlds seem to have finally found a way to sit comfortably together. The shorter tracks offer the opportunity to try out ideas without diluting them into a four minute single.

Although the year is still young, this album is a current frontrunner along with John Talabot’s ‘ƒin’. I can find little bad to say about this record. Obviously there are moments that could be tighter and ideas that could be explored further, but I have every faith that will come on Grimes' next release. 2012 is shaping up to be an exciting year for the world of electronic music and this record plays a major part.