Album of the Year

Grimes- Visions

Music always has and always will be the most accessible connection with human emotion. With this in mind you can listen to almost any genre of music knowing that it will make you feel something; whether it be angry, sad, happy or even absolute despair. Visions is the album that will make you feel energised and drained. Optimistic and hopeless; with other feeling put in juxtaposition. Right from the opening track Infinite=Without Fulfilment you know that this will be unlike anything you’ve ever heard. A simple drum track laced with intricate vocal tracks out of, yet in perfect harmony wrought together to create the pace for the rest of the album.

Genesis opens with a bubbling bass line with eerie synth parts making up the bulk of the standout track. When fused with the haunting vocal melodies and a prominent drum beat you almost enter a fugue state in which you will question everything that makes you human, everything that makes you feel, and everything that ever was. You will not regain a sense of identity until the penultimate track Skin, which at 6:09 is the longest track on the album and by far the most in touch with the human psyche. The complex drum tracks play very little part in the song as it carries you to a metaphysical wonderland, driven by beautiful effect-laced vocals with meaning of loss and heartbreak, taking you to a metaphorical enlightenment after an 11 song meditation period.

Drawing on electronic, house and techno influences Grimes creates an idiosyncratic and instantly recognisable sound on the album; sounding like nothing you’ve ever heard, with everything you’ve ever heard. Vowels=Space and Time opens with a catchy vocal riff which is almost mirrored by the bass line, making sure that you will not forget the powerful nuances that make this album so easy to listen to. Every track on Visions is great in its own right, however listening to the album in its entirety almost sounds like one hypnotic drone, all blended seamlessly into a perfect collaboration of human emotions and a truly original perception of how the world works.

2012 Has no doubt been a great year for music, yet one album stands as a throne on which Grimes will occupy until the music of 2013 inevitably moves towards this style, making for a very interesting year indeed.

-James Donaldson