Grimes - Geidi Primes

Montreal's Claire Boucher has surprised me here with her album. I was so utterly stumped and perplexed by her split with D'eon that I didn't actually know what was going on. On 'Geidi Primes' her wonky ethereal folk with beats initially sounds like old Too Pure act Long Fin Killie with Kate Bush trilling away over the top! This music makes much more sense than her earlier gear and doesn't seem to be remotely associated with the mixed bag of predictability that is the "chillwave/witch-house" scene. Instead we get a sketchy, sassy lo-fi electronic pop with rudimentary drum machines, elastic bass grooves and some lovely spaced-out dreamy vocals. The beat of 'Avi' sounds a little like A Forest by The Cure underpinned with the synthesized cello from Aphex Twin's "Girl/Boy" while she lets her voice trail woozily over the result. Overall I'm most charmed by this, it's got a DIY heart and some cracking songs, delicate melodies and dinky rhythms that will get right under your skin. Her work here sounds, at various times, wispy, mysterious, naive and heartfelt. I don't think the press comparisons do it justice. The closest she comes to other current female practitioners on this effort is probably Laurel Halo but there's snatches of Zola Jesus and such in there but with less gothic elements? Kim also mentions Julee Cruise, most helpfully! A rather tempting disc we have here which I suspect will improve with repeated listens, so much more than merely another junior Kate Bush clone, Grimes is a true mistress of future ethereal pop.