Grimes — Miss Anthropocene — Album Review
Experimental | Alternative | Electronic | Pop
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
The first I had really heard of Canadian singer-songwriter Grimes, it was through her end of 2018 single “We Appreciate Power”, which I enjoyed for being an innovative and unique take on a Nu-Metal aesthetic.
While the aforementioned track does make its way into the deluxe edition of her newest album Miss Anthropocene, I will today be basing my review on the standard album.
I must admit that I hadn’t heard much that Grimes put out as part of this newest album cycle, even after how much I enjoyed my gateway single into the artist. Although, the only teaser I managed to catch before the release of Miss Anthropocene would be the fifth and final teaser, “Delete Forever”.
Listening to this teaser distorted my expectation of what kind of style Grimes was aiming to home in on, with “Delete Forever” being an atmospheric track with an acoustic skeleton, that has been described as similar to an Oasis song by some.
My confusion in regards to what style Grimes specialised in only furthered when I finally listened to the full album. Although, I would say that the most graspable and common genre I picked up from this record was a futuristic style of electronic pop.
In-fact, the majority of this album makes me feel like I’m in some kind of intergalactic night club, but this only makes songs like “Delete Forever” amongst some other singles stick out like red trainers against an all-black outfit.
But on the other hand, this definitely showed an impressive amount of musical versatility from Grimes, despite also being all over the place structurally. Very few of the more uniquely styled tracks feel fundamentally gimmicky either, and all come across as styles in which Grimes knew how to execute well.
The cosmic aesthetic really helps to elevate the sense of awe, especially in the albums opening track, “So Heavy I Fell Through the Earth”, which is an over 6 minute cosmic dreamscape with a warm and uplifting vibe to it.
What follows becomes only a little bit of a mixed bag, with tracks seven through ten being okay, but also not as engaging for me. The tracks that I do find more engaging, however, are amazingly so. Grimes herself has definitely proved capable with her infatuating and ranged vocals, and much of the production felt remarkably memorable.
I suspect that I should be regarded as a tiny bit late to the party, in regards to recognising the innovation that Grimes injects into her music. But needless to say, I am definitely glad that this great album serves as the first I’ve listened to critically.
Favourite Tracks: So Heavy I Fell Through the Earth | Violence | New Gods
Least Favourite track: IDORU
4AD Ltd
