Hmm. I still haven’t made up my mind. About the album artwork, I mean – Grimes’s [Facebook/Twitter] third album is brilliant, and I’ll get to that in a little bit, but first I must say that I wouldn’t be surprised if one was unable to take Visions seriously after seeing its cover. Regardless of what the old adage might say, this record’s sleeve is divisive… and also rather exciting. It’s eye-catching, and if Clare Boucher wanted to draw people to her music through its visual representation, then I’d say that she’ll succeed in enticing most people into at least giving her latest album a cursory listen.
What they should find is a rather impressive pop album. Yes, you read that right: pop album. As weird as Boucher would like her music to be, she sure as hell knows how to write a hook. Visions is a diverse enough album that most would be able to forgive her if there were any missteps taken on it, but repeated listening will reveal that this is not the case, even if, on first listen – speaking from experience – one could find themselves slightly overwhelmed and not fully able to make sense of what’s going on. While accessibility lies at this album’s core, an opener like Infinite Love Without Fulfilment is immediately going to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Indeed, some of the shorter songs on the album are going to split opinion early on, but as more time is spent with them, and things start to fall into place, they can be viewed instead as integral parts of Visions. Early single Genesis, meanwhile, is a treat, one of the more immediate entry points into Boucher’s strange yet delightful world, with a simple yet supremely effective melody that opens up into something magical. The gradual unveiling of its power is the sort of thing that can be said about the album as a whole: it only really takes hold after three or four listens. It’s immediate, in its own way (as Vowels = Space and Time and Be A Body attest to), but it’s also quite a grower.
Boucher’s third record is one that lives in its own space. Mixing elements of electro and pop and throwing in more than its fair share of curveballs (as an example, pitch-shifted vocals appear on more than one occasion – at least, what I think are pitch-shifted vocals, because she could probably hit those notes if she tried). Some of the song titles are outlandish, sure, but then she deserves to be able to mask songs this good in wordy monikers like Symphonia IX (My Wait Is U), as this trick just adds to the album’s colourful nature. Topping out at 48 minutes across 13 songs, it feels like it goes by in less than 25. This is an expansive and enjoyable album that straddles the line between arty and accessible, and does it very well indeed.
Visions is out on Monday through 4AD.
PRE-ORDER Grimes – Visions: Banquet Records (CD/LP) / Amazon (CD/LP) / iTunes
I think this album’s actually pretty bad. Here’s my take:
In terms of press attention, things are
looking up for Grimes. The Montreal-based chanteuse (née Claire
Bouchard) has attracted the attention of music critics with Visions,
her third full-length project and first since signing with the record
label that handles Bon Iver, 4AD. Some critics give the record high
marks, they deem this latest project “a smart, funny album,” they
aver that “everything on Visions is a total jam,” they
call Grimes “beguiling,” a “bizarro pop star,” and they agree
with her—given the diverse sounds of the past she uses and
abuses—that her sound is “post-internet.” On this point, we
couldn’t agree more.
Straightaway (“Infinite Love Without
Fulfillment), Grimes blends infectious K-pop vocables with bass
timbres directly from the early post-MIDI age. (It is small
coincidence that several critics connect the palette of Visions
with the Cocteau Twins.) Just before the lead track begins to
stale, in dance some diminished harmonies redolent of the Residents.
The list of diverse sounds continues. Pads worthy of Brian Eno or Pat
Metheny (“Genesis”), orchestra hits from the DX-7 and even
melodic fragments from Del Shannon (“Oblivion”) make their
appearance to more or less joyous effect.
The point of bountiful inspirations
raises the downside of the “post-internet” age, whatever that
means. Start with all the available sounds online, combine them with
a number of elegant software programs, let loose a bunch of
unrestrained ideas, and you’ve got yourself Visions. Its best
tracks are “Symphonia IX” and snatches of “Nightmusic,” but,
before reaching those moments, listeners are asked to wade through
thirty-five minutes of gnostic, self-satisfied self-expression
desperately in need of edits. Less is more. For example, “Skin”
would have been improved if the oscillating “oohs” that lead off
the track had been purged, because they don’t serve any essential
function. We could go on.
Moreover, the whole record sounds as if
it were recorded in Notre Dame cathedral, suffused as it is with
Garage Band echo. The project is too busy for its own good, and the
echo effect added to flaunt goth cred only compounds the clutter.
This has a particularly damaging effect on meaning—it is as if
Grimes has consciously rendered her lyrics unintelligible, to remain
forever alone in her echo-cocoon, to prevent audiences from singing
along. (the WTF-o-meter pegs on “Eight” – is that “Tardis,
Tardis”?!) Unless she alters course, we can’t predict a real
flourishing. No singalong, no communication. No communication, no
community.
Worse than being too busy, the album is
largely uncompelling. Amid the clutter, a small number of effects—a
balloonish bass timbre, for instance, in addition to the
aforementioned echo and needless stereo panning—recur ad
nauseam. When we read Grimes described on the Arbutus Records
website as “weird pop,” we brace ourselves and enthusiastically
prepare for the unexpected, but there’s little about Visions
that genuinely fits the bill.1
What’s weird about every song being in four-four (i.e., “common”)
time? What’s unexpected—considering the untutored source—about an
album so wanting in harmonic exploration that it makes the Ramones
smirk admiringly? What’s weird about a twenty-something imploring,
“listen to my potential”?
Press-wise, things are looking up, but
the somewhat puzzling success of Grimes is a testament to audiences
who prize potential over proven ability, who root for underdogs like
everybody’s on Idol, who sense that everyone is auditioning,
now that we’re in the post-internet age.
Interesting points Michael, but I’m going to have to disagree with you. She manages to mash together different influences that we don;t hear much of in the UK – I haven’t heard K-pop coming through anything in recent memory for example.
Yes we may be praising her potential, but that is only because she continues to improve with leaps and bounds with each record and is finally finding her own style – it is what she opens up that is so impressive. The music itself, I would argue, is proof of her ability – but its the originality and versatility that is also worthy of praise because it comes along so rarely.