The Review - Grimes - Art Angels
New Music week of November 9th from Grimes
What a way to start a pop album! Grimes begins her latest album ‘Art Angels’ almost in an operatic style. It’s an unexpected, bold and an absolutely perfect way to start this album. It opens the page on a scope of sounds that bounce all around the pop landscape during the next 50 minutes. The aptly named ‘Scream’ is track number 3 and now you realize this isn’t your average pop album. There are sounds on here, from smooth to aggressive and everything in between, that make this a great and essential album of 2015.
Grimes became a critical darling with 2012’s ‘Visions’, scooping various Album of the Year awards and glowing critical reviews. Maybe it was the pressure to follow up such a well-received record but the past three years haven’t seemed easy for Grimes. This included scrapping an entire album’s worth of material, citing that it felt too depressing and she wouldn’t be able to tour it. Listening and knowing these struggles, how it may not have been easy to record, is one of the aspects that makes ‘Art Angels’ such a triumph.
What made me decide to review this album? Rewind to a couple of weeks ago to me listening to (surprise, surprise) Zane Lowe debuting Grimes' brilliant single ‘Flesh without Blood’ on his Beats 1 radio show. Instantly the song hooked me with its catchy chorus and enthusiastic dance beat, leading me to dive deeper into the whole album.
Grimes - Flesh without Blood/Life in the Vivid Dream
Song titles on ‘Art Angels’ have some noticeably dark titles including ‘Kill V. Maim’. Even the album art, with its Japanese style anime has a dark feel. But the music couldn’t feel more opposite. At times an absolute celebration like the before mentioned ‘Kill V. Maim’, although lyrically it can be a middle finger at times. Best described by Pitchfork.com, “One of the most notable and striking differences between Art Angels and its Top 40 kin is that these are not love songs. The album is an epic holiday buffet of tendentious feminist fuck-off, with second helpings for anonymous commenters and music industry blood-suckers.”
When Grimes decides to give a song a simpler slowed down feel, you don’t lose any of the listening enjoyment. ‘Easily’ comes at the midpoint of ‘Art Angels’ and is a strikingly beautiful song that completely stands out. The 20 second string extro on ‘Easily’ into the crystal clear pop of ‘Pin’ show off the polished top-notch production on this record.
Another reason I love this album and wish more artists followed this template, is the length. Since albums moved to digital as the popular choice of consumption, artists (or labels, not sure whose to blame here) put out ‘Deluxe’ versions of their albums. Take the awesome Ellie Goulding and her new album ‘Delirium’, also out this week. With over 21 tracks, a 1 hour and 20 minute length and albeit many good tracks, it comes across long and at times repetitive. Strip it down to the 12 best songs and leave us wanting more or looking for that play button for the replay.
To me, that is exactly where Grimes succeeds with ‘Art Angels’.
14 songs that only leave you wanting more and inevitably hitting play again.
Essential tracks: California, Flesh without Blood, Kill V. Maim, Easily, Venus Fly.
Track Listing
1. laughing and not being normal
2. California
3. SCREAM (ft. Aristophanes)
4. Flesh without Blood
5. Belly of the Beat
6. Kill V. Maim
7. Artangels
8. Easily
9. Pin
10. Realiti
11. World Princess part II
12. Venus Fly (ft. Janelle Mone)
13. Life in the Vivid Dream
14. Butterfly
15. REALiTi (Demo) (Bonus Track)