The Edge’s Top 10 Albums of 2012: #10

Grimes – Visions

Released 12th March 2012, 4AD

Kicking off The Edge’s countdown of the Top 10 Albums of 2012 is Visions, the third album from the Canadian solo artist, Grimes. Solely recorded over a three-week period using Apple’s GarageBand software, the album achieved a peak position of sixty seven in the UK charts but was met with critical acclaim.

Statistics:

• 13% of contributors included the album in their top ten
• Of those, 50% ranked the album in their top three

Review by Chris Dibsdall, Edge writer (ranked the album #3):

Visions is an album that has no business being quite as good as it is. Its every part is bolted on from different places, times and styles, and it seems to exist outside of taste or style despite being grouped in with the same 8-bit retro crowd as the almost equally great Crystal Castles. Yet, its weird arrangements have a strange, alchemists magic to them that transcends the smorgasbord of influences from which it is composed and even comparisons to other backwards looking electro-pop artists. Visions is dark, colourful, retro, fresh, hook-laden, avant-garde and brilliant.

Review by Howell Davies, Edge Records Editor (ranked the album #4):

Having already been a fan of some of Grimes’ previous singles, it was her performance on Later With Jools Holland earlier this year that ignited in me a love for her music. Vancouver-born Claire Boucher’s third album launched her to success and such success is well deserved. The dazzling sound of her dreamy experimental synth-pop is refreshingly risqué. Child-like, falsetto vocals echo over multi-layered popping and chattering in the album’s genius singles ‘Genesis’ and ‘Oblivion’. An encapsulating record.

Other accolades:

• Ranked #2 on NME’s “Albums of the Year” list
• Ranked #2 on The Guardian’s “Best Albums of 2012” list
• Ranked #2 on The Fly’s “Top 50 Albums of 2012” list