Visions

Vancouver’s Grimes (a.k.a. Claire Boucher) pushes the margins of this electronic subgenre with a third studio album (and her first for 4AD) that takes plenty of successful risks. Although a timeline of fragments including '70s disco, '80s synth-pop, '90s R&B, and '00s new age electronica can be heard on Visions, Grimes’ own style of murky lo-fi electronics takes center stage. “Infinite Love Without Fulfilment” opens, with her ghostly, childlike voice layered over bassy synths and distorted beats. “Genesis” follows, sounding like it was produced by New Order’s Peter Hook with delightfully dated synths percolating under heavily affected vocals. But as soon as the beats fall like a cold rain, the song takes on an entire new life. She sings with a playfully gothy timbre on the standout song “Oblivion,” an undeniably catchy cut with production that sounds like a darker take on Disneyland’s Main Street Electrical Parade. “Circumambient” experiments with disturbing textures and funky bass lines before Boucher croons in a beautifully distorted soprano.