I've been meaning to make a thread on Grimes for a while now ever since listening to, and really enjoying, Art Angels earlier this year. I had never heard of her prior to listening to the REALiTi demo. The song had me hooked and after listening to AA I considered making a LTTP just for that, but I figured that I'd eventually get around to listening to the rest of her discography and that there'd be more discuss too. Now almost a year later I've listened through to Halfaxa and my opinion is pretty stable on each project and of her music as a whole. In short, I think she's pretty damn great.
Art Angels was a pretty easy-listen. Generally upbeat and catchy, I could listen to it whenever and have a good time with it. The only songs I didn't really like, and still don't, were SCREAM and Easily. They don't feel out of place or anything but with the former I think it would have been more well-rounded with some of Claire's vocals and the latter is just kinda boring. While REALiTi made me a fan already, the two songs that further cemented this were Kill V. Maim and Venus Fly. I don't like neither of them as much anymore but during its peak they were some heat. The album closer, Butterfly, is by far my favourite track and Pin is a runner up. Butterfly feels super-confident and self-assured and it's chorus has never gotten old for me. Pin is such a fun tune with her lyrics and the prominent use of guitar in the beat and the vocals sprinkled throughout, perfect execution of what it's going for imo. AA was a good time, but little did I know how much I'd love her preceding works.
Unlike AA, it took me a while to get into Visions. I listened to Oblivion and Genesis multiple times on Youtube but I didn't 'get' them at all. At one point I listened to Be a Body which didn't leave an impression either. Fast forward a few weeks when one day on the bus I suddenly remembered the opening to Be a Body. It was a little bizarre how out of the blue it was but I listened to it again and holy shit, what a revelation this second-listen was. Let me blunt, this song is goddamn amazing. Lemme froth over it for a bit. Every single thing about it works so well. The three-note motif that opens the song (evocative of a race for some reason/almost sounds like a car beep), the thumping drums, that killer bass line, the arpeggiating harps, and that's just the first half without going into the lyrical content either. I'm so-so on songs that undergo a significant transition midway but here it's flawless. I don't know how to articulate it but the momentum built up doesn't feel wasted at all. After a short break the song comes back and then some. Every single time 2:16 hits I'm sent out of body. With the timbre of the synth and how its mixed, it feels like being dropped into a pool of water and it's the most magical thing. Despite its relatively average length the song feels way longer too. That out of the way, I should add the rest of the album is fantastic too and after getting BaB everything fell into place. Eight and Visiting Statue are the weak links for me because even if they're effective in the flow of the album, they don't offer as much as the other tracks which is more of a testament to how good the rest of the album is. Nightmusic was the only track I didn't like much because its playful opening synth line always caught me off guard from the dark ending of Symphonia IX. Just the other day I 'got' it and now its one of my favourite songs lol. The organic transition into part B is hype and Claire's singing has a lot of weight to it. Still playful but also quite menacing. Overall I appreciate how most songs feel 'complete' and reach their full potential.
Last, but not least, Halfaxa. I don't think I can do a good job of describing it outside of calling it abstract and ethereal so I won't try to
It's definitely the least 'conventional' project of the three but I have just as much to like. I'd go as far to say I like it more than AA and see myself returning to it much more often. Generally the songs feel more open to interpretation if that makes any sense. Loose thoughts are: I dig how all the songs have a very distinct opening, such as Dream Fortress' violin/viola? and Devon's percussion. The less intelligible singing doesn't bother me either and fits the respective soundscapes they belong to.So where are the Grimes fans at? I'd like to hear your thoughts on your favourite songs and some recommendations of her old/loose cuts too.
