Art Angels

by 
AlbumNov 06 / 201514 songs, 49m 43s
Electropop Synthpop
Popular Highly Rated

*Art Angels*’ opening trio of songs present a handy summation of Claire Boucher’s singular appeal. The operatic “Laughing and Not Being Normal” opens before making way for “California”. Ostensibly an irresistible country-twanged foot-tapper and easily the catchiest thing she’s recorded, its lyrics unload a bleak commentary on her industry’s treatment of female stars. Next up: the strident “Scream” featuring Taiwanese rapper Aristophanes and plenty of actual howling. Whether discordant and urgent (“Flesh without Blood”, “Kill V. Maim”) or dazzlingly beautiful (“Easily”, “Pin”), *Art Angels* is a Catherine wheel of ferocious pop invention and Grimes’ grandest achievement.

8.5 / 10

Art Angels is Claire Boucher's fourth record as Grimes and her most audacious yet: a gilded coffin nail to outmoded arguments that women in pop are mere frames for male producers' talents. These 14 tracks articulate a pop vision that is incontrovertibly hers, inviting the wider world in.

A-

Over the past five years, hardly any other artist in music has weaved together a catalog of material as dark and danceable as that of Canadian singer and producer Grimes. By making the slick production style and staid framework of ’80s pop contemporary and marrying it with a wide range of dejected, unsettling, and…

7 / 10

6 / 10

On Art Angels, Grimes’ high art experimentation falls into mainstream territory with only fleeting moments of brilliance.

Check out our album review of Artist's Art Angels on Rolling Stone.com.

With her fourth album, Claire Boucher opens up a whole new realm of possibilities, and gives the middle finger to expectation in the process.

Download: California; Kill V. Maim; Butterfly; Venus Fly

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10 / 10

Since the release of her breakthrough 2012 album, Visions, Claire Boucher has become somewhat of a mythmaker (Skinny Puppy reference intende...

8.0 / 10

Art Angels, Grimes' long awaited follow up to 2011's Visions, was already a story months before its release. A rumor first claimed that Grimes—aka Claire Boucher—scrapped the album entirely in the aftermath of her fans' response to last year's single,

8 / 10

Grimes released 'Visions' four years ago (Clash review HERE), an album that launched her from the underground of the internet to the consciousness

Canadian maverick Claire ‘Grimes’ Boucher loses the ‘weird’ factor on her fourth album

Sometimes the maximalist ambitions of Claire Boucher’s Art Angels overshoot the needs of pop.

9 / 10

9.0 / 10

Grimes 'Art Angels' album review. The singer/songwriter/producer's full-length release comes out today on Eerie Organization/Crystal Math/4AD records.

85 %

Album Reviews: Grimes - Art Angels

When Canadian indie darling Claire Boucher cleared the dance floor while DJing in Ibiza two years ago, she was surprised that her selection of pop hits by Taylor Swift, Mariah Carey and the Vengaboys did not meet with the approval of her hipster fans.

8 / 10