Visions [CD]

Following an increasingly impressive run of varied releases, Visions may well be the album to send Montréalaise babe Clare Boucher skywards if not stratospheric. And there are few finer platforms from which to perform such a launch than with 4AD who, after last year's success with Gang Gang Dance, seem very much to be in the market for acts that sound like what The Cocteau Twins could have been producing if still recording today.

So to Visions, which if nothing else again proves Boucher to be one of the more interesting and certainly most prolific of those currently practising in cutting-edge pop. With little care for genre, "Circumambient" is, for example, half a radio-friendly ballad echoed out to infinity and half a simmering slice of minimal IDM all chopped, spliced and staggered into a precarious but striking blend. On the other hand, amid Boucher's high-pitch self-backing vocal tricks, roboticised and Germanic repeats announce and frame the lurching industry of "Eight".

More than earning the "outer-limits pop" classification that has recently been flung in Boucher's direction, "Genesis" is full of warm synth progressions and an organic vocal drift that evokes Julianna Barwick`s similar adventures on The Magic Place. Here, as elsewhere, a straightforward beat adds backbone to otherwise ethereal proceedings that all combine into the sort of new age whimsy popular with those that dig interpretative dance - see "Symphonia IX (my wait is u)" for a lesser reprise, notable really in such company only for its harsh synthetic-snare cracks.

Not content there, "Oblivion" is in turn a Casio-driven, retro-futurist pop encounter beamed directly from the 80s into some contemporary sci-fi setting. That in doing so the chorus seems to obtain a double-take likeness with Tiffany`s stellar version of "I Think We're Alone Now" is sure to incur someone's wrath upon reading these words. Later, albeit with a much smaller budget, the crumpled beat and frosty keys of "Colour Of Moonlight (Antiochus)" even manage to recall the weirder elements of Björk`s Biophilia.

Belonging to a more subtle realm, "Skin" is perhaps most surprising of all however, as amid such Avant posturing and playful futurism Boucher's gentle coherency, restrained keyboards/synths and super-charged falsetto seem Siren-like, tinged with both hopelessness and an inexorable sense of allure.

Everywhere you look, Visions is bursting with possibility and experimentation: be that with the trancelike "Be A Body", Boucher's looping skills and her sometimes chipmunk-esque mewing, or indeed the momentarily neo-classical "Nightmusic" during which Boucher this time affects a sanity-questioning and whispered rap on top of textural choral backing.

Though there may be nothing to quite rival the impact nor immediacy of Halfaxa`s stand-out "Sagrad ''''''''''", Visions' only real fault is in its own pluralisation; Boucher is no longer simply writing songs, she's transmuting a singular vision through her Grimes persona - and currently she can see light years further than almost anyone else.

Advised downloads: "Skin" and "Oblivion".

Grimes (Claire Boucher)is such a likeable, unspoilt young lady with rapidly evolving embryonic talent. She is at her best when she doesn't present herself with limitations. Yes, do Liz Frazer "lost-vocals" when it suits but there isn't anything wrong with some straight vocals, or noe at all. I agree with some comments that the album becomes a little samey and the difficulty lies in having such a couple of knock-out tracks - Oblivion and Genesis slap-bang together, However , there are a number of growers, and if you like good beat-tracks and synth-bass lines then tracks like Be a Body will not disappoint. Circumambient, Vowels and Symphonia IX have real substance. Not to everyone's taste as a whole and , perhaps disappointing to those wanting Genesis/Oblivion 1 through to 12 or 13 ... if you are a fan of varied and textured synth-based music and you like unapologetically feminine vocals and lyrical stylings, this is definitely a 4 out of 5 and, if you are impressed by how far the 24 year old Grimes has come in such a short amount of time ( and modest volume of recordings), you will consider rating it 5 out of 5.

Grimes, or Claire Boucher as she's probably known to her elderly relatives, couldn't have chosen a more accurate name for her third LP. Visions is evidently more of a `project' than most other albums on the shelf today - and it's clear that the young Canadian had a certain vision in mind when she started work on the record back in 2010. It's also clear that she's realised that vision to perfection. This might just be one one of the best albums of 2012 so far, Grimes rides wave after wave of perfectly constructed synth-pop, somehow creating a sound that belongs to the 1980s and the future all at the same time.
Oblivion, the album's standout, is the perfect example of this. Layers of ambient synth, samples and digital sound effects are meshed together minimalistically underneath Boucher's butter-wouldn't-melt vocals. The preceding Genesis is almost as successful, and has rightfully garnered a huge amount of Internet airplay.
It continues. Circumambient (best song name ever?) captures Boucher at her most unconventionally catchy, with a truly addictive chorus comprised of more choppy layers than bears thinking about. Eight and Symphonia IX (My wait is u) both stand up on their own to prove that Grimes is far from a one-trick pony. The former showcases Boucher's vocal range - albeit with the help of some robotic filters - while the latter features some wonderfully soft piano scales, and is the closest thing to a ballad on the record.
In truth, it's hard to pinpoint any filler on Visions. Part of its draw is that there's nothing out there that sounds quite like it. This isn't to suggest that others aren't trying; they just don't have Grimes' weirdly wonderful talent - which every track on this album so perfectly showcases.