Grimes - Visions
Yes it arguably goes rather flat in the middle. Yes the vocals can occasionally be uncomfortably high-pitched. Yes it’s perhaps widely overrated. But throughout the year I kept on keeping on coming back to Visions.
In fact, Visions is the perfect title for the record. It’s a chocolate/Pandora’s box (Chocolate Pandora’s Box?) of great ideas and experiments, catchy melodies, and engaging beats & sounds, which ultimately makes the record rewarding for the ability to dip into it for individual treats just as much as consistent listening.
On that note, it undeniably possesses two of the best synth-pop singles of the year in ‘Oblivion’ and ‘Genesis’ but there’s a hell of a lot more to it than that.
It’s mental, daring, incoherent, thumping, empowering, relaxing on occasion even, but it’s certainly not boring. Claire Boucher seems to be very much enjoying her moment in the spotlight and she deserves to.