Grimes - Art Angels

The wait for Grimes' fourth album, and follow-up to 2012's Visions, is finally over - Art Angels has landed, and it's a huge step forward. While Visions was a ghostly and distanced experiment in pop, Art Angels is bright and deliberate. It's as if Grimes has somehow found a way to become more Grimes; it's louder, it's catchier, and hasn't lost any of the complicated textures that resonate throughout her previous releases.

Opening track "laughing and not being normal" is a beautiful two-minute introduction, its dramatic strings making it seem almost like the score to the coolest fantasy film yet to be made. This leads into one of the first standout tracks of the album, "California". It starts of sounding like the kind of upbeat positive track we've come to expect from tracks named after the sunshine state, but on closer inspection, there's actually a lot of pain and hurt within the lyrics.

Throughout this album, one of Grime's most powerful instruments remains her distinctive voice, and the different ways she has trained herself to use it, which is perhaps what makes "SCREAM" such an interesting track; it's the first track produced by Grimes on which she doesn't perform the lead vocals. Instead,  it features Taiwanese rapper Aristophanes, while Grimes herself can be heard screaming in the background.

The first single from this album, "Flesh Without Blood", seems like a standard break-up song, but is actually directed at the backlash she faced last year after releasing the single "Go", with fans accusing her of "going pop" and "chasing money".

"Kill V. Maim" is my personal favourite track from this album; to me, it perfectly sums up both Grimes and this album as a whole. The bratty chant-a-long chorus even had me thinking of Kathleen Hanna and Le Tigre, mixed with Sleigh Bells.

Personally, I fell in love with this album before I'd even listened to the whole thing. There's just so much going on, every track stands perfectly strong on its own. It's hard to make such a varied album without it sounding disjointed or awkward, but Grimes has managed to pull it off.

Oh, and it was definitely worth the four year wait. 

Rating: 5/5
Standout Tracks: California, Kill V. Maim, Venus Fly

Scream” is a collaboration between Claire Boucher and Taiwanese rapper Aristophanes, who delivers rapid-fire Mandarin verses alongside Boucher’s actual screams and growls. Take a listen above; the two-headed creature bearing toothbrush and axe at the bottom of the page is the single artwork and an apt visualization for how this song sounds.

Read More: Grimes Shares Blistering New Track ‘Scream’ | http://diffuser.fm/grimes-shares-blistering-new-track-scream-from-upcoming-art-angels/?trackback=tsmclip

Scream” is a collaboration between Claire Boucher and Taiwanese rapper Aristophanes, who delivers rapid-fire Mandarin verses alongside Boucher’s actual screams and growls. Take a listen above; the two-headed creature bearing toothbrush and axe at the bottom of the page is the single artwork and an apt visualization for how this song sounds.

Read More: Grimes Shares Blistering New Track ‘Scream’ | http://diffuser.fm/grimes-shares-blistering-new-track-scream-from-upcoming-art-angels/?trackback=tsmclip

Scream” is a collaboration between Claire Boucher and Taiwanese rapper Aristophanes, who delivers rapid-fire Mandarin verses alongside Boucher’s actual screams and growls. Take a listen above; the two-headed creature bearing toothbrush and axe at the bottom of the page is the single artwork and an apt visualization for how this song sounds.

Read More: Grimes Shares Blistering New Track ‘Scream’ | http://diffuser.fm/grimes-shares-blistering-new-track-scream-from-upcoming-art-angels/?trackback=tsmclip