Album Review: Grimes - 'Art Angels'

Words originally for Outline Magazine

Release Date: November 6th, 2015

Label: 4AD

Once in a generation comes an artist as inspired and unique as Grimes (a.k.a. Vancouver’s Claire Boucher) whose fourth studio album Art Angels sees her mix a more structured, pop sound into her already eclectic cauldron of electronic delights with fantastic results. The record opens with an ethereal mix of classical instrumentals before falling head first down a musical rabbit hole into California, one of the record (and indeed, Grimes’) most commercial sounding songs, but equally one of the most charming. Next SCREAM leapfrogs back to the bizarre, recruiting Taiwanese rapper Aristophanes for an explosive barrage of noise lasting less than three minutes. Flesh without Blood highlights Boucher’s lyrical skills as she details “your voice, it had the perfect glow/it got lost when you gave it up though”, masking depth and intricacy under a veil of catchy beats and infectious melodies. REALiTi, previously released as a demo, is the most abstract song on the record, produced like a dream with a pounding bassline holding up Boucher’s signature celestial vocals. Janelle Monáe guests on the dramatic and audacious Venus Fly before Butterfly closes a stunning album with a climax of lo-fi electro pleasure, tied together with sublime vocals and exquisite synthesizer mastery.

9/10

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