Grimes - Art Angels

Art Angels
Grimes
Tiger Rating: 9.0 / 10
Dark Wave / K-Pop / Left Field / Electronica

Quite possibly the most polarizing album to be released this year, Canadian electro-noir pixie
Claire Boucher has thrown caution to the wind with Art Angels and delivered an album that is fresh, bizaare, undeniably catchy and sweetly defiant. Raising her flag not just for girl pop, but for the marginalized, the underestimated and the misunderstood, every track on this, her fourth LP, is a brazen middle finger to mediocrity, normalcy, chauvinism and the expectations people have of you.
On this album Boucher asserts herself calmly and and in a really fun way.

Some albums grow and become dangerously potent over time. Visions, Grimes' last album was just that. Finding it's way onto many an end of year "best of" countdown, Visions was a masterclass in weird. It introduced most of the uninitiated listeners to Boucher's odd ability to combine unexpected elements into one workable, accessible whole. The tracks were eerie but likeable; dark but warm; eccentric but fun; danceable but not strictly pop. Much of the vocals were only truly audible in the countless covers  (Oblivion we're looking at you) the album generated.

Claire was undoubtedly narrating some very real human conditions (snatches of loneliness, isolation and anger were evident), but layers of mystic synth, underscored by seething beats masked a lot of the humanity that might've been there. She was an ethereal pixie creature immersed in a noir electronic multiverse, and that was enticing enough. Visions became such a fixture on the 2012 music scene that PopMatters included the album at number 11 on its list of The 75 Best Albums of the year, saying it was "...top-rate art and pop in equal measure, and deserves to be talked about for years to come".
As with all lauded masterpieces, pressure for a follow up is never far behind the praise.

From the time Claire released Go, featuring Blood Diamonds, towards the end of 2014, critics were quick to point out the change in direction. A track that was originally penned for Rihanna, Go featured a heavy dubstep hook and more audible vocals (not to mention a cliche 90s video).
The general public were not impressed, and less so when Claire announced in early 2015 that the follow up to Visions would be more pop focused.


And poppier it certainly is, though there is not one whiff of a love song here. Of the thirteen new tracks (minus the throwaway of a prelude), only two are downbeat (including Life In Vivid Dream which only comes in at 1:28). The rest of the album varies between violent club blasters (now ancient single Realiti, Venus Fly featuring Janelle Monae and cheerful closer Butterfly in particular). Elsewhere, though, the album is pure sunshine and summer, on the surface at least.
Flesh Without Blood is a near derivative track to listen to whilst driving alongside the beach with the top down. It narrates Claire's coming to terms with being confident despite being misunderstood and embracing a DGAF attitude, whilst placing the blame squarely on her lover's shoulders.
California documents Boucher's disillusionment with the United States.
"You only like me when you think i'm looking sad" she sings whilst effortlessly casting off expectation placed on her fragile shoulders. "I didn't think you'd end up treating me so bad."
Maybe this is why she identifies more with the K-Pop scene. Bad California. Bad.

Of all the songs she's ever done Kill V. Maim is not only the most catchy on the album, but the most focused of her career. Perfectly balanced between catchy and serious, it drips with intention.
Boucher seethes beneath the mocking cheerleader chants.
"Sometimes people say I'm a big time bomb / But I'm only a man. I do what I can"
Putting herself in the masculine, she sings to the futility of effort.
If even a man can't please everyone in this life, how the hell will she?
She cheers herself on in mockery, ultimately determined to live life on her terms.
In the vein of power female pop to be released this year (Lauren Mayberry finding her confidence on Every Open Eye, Gwen Stefani giving us a real time glimpse into her post divorce emotions on Used To Love You), Claire sings for herself and subconciously for every overlooked, victimised and passed-by, cheated on and frustrated female ever.
"If you're looking for a dreamgirl / I'll never be your dream girl" the album closes with.
It's a declaration. Of power. It's simple too. The quest for perfection and ideals ends here. The perfect woman doesn't exist except in your mind. And that's actually your cross to bear.

In true modern day irony, Claire Boucher - in all her awkward, misunderstood and even creepy glory - transforms and becomes a true anime dreamgirl. One who is calmly confident. One who is bluntly honest. One who just wants to have a good time because it's summer. One who is quite past her quarter life crisis and has taken grappling with life's frustrations and disillusionments comfortably into her stride. She unwittingly becomes an icon on this album, standing shoulder to shoulder with other freshlings like Mayberry and Taylor, and rising above the vapid and soulless (Perry & Gaga).

Whilst much of the music itself is borderline trite, the messages remain current, important, honest and self assured. The record itself is a bit like Chinese food - it's great on first taste and goes down a treat - but leaves you hungry an hour after. The heart of the album, not the beats, is the sustenance. And it's timless message is one that will stick around for decades.

WVS