Grimes - Visions
Critic Score
Based on 41 reviews
2012 Ratings: #81 / 1118
Year End Rank: #4
User Score
2012 Rank: #78
Liked by 459 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
AllMusic

Fresh and surprisingly accessible despite its quirks, Visions is bewitching.

91
Pretty Much Amazing
It sounds like the record she’s always been trying to make; chromatically glossy and clean, completely unified and assured.
91
A.V. Club

She continues her march toward accessibility, rendering hazy, quixotic sketches into tangible, hook-heavy electro-pop.

90
Sputnikmusic

Although Visions feels too light (but not lightweight) to indicate intentions on Boucher's part to create a record of capital-S Significance, ignoring Visions' considerable weight as a fully formed work of art discredits her achievement.

90
musicOMH

It's an album to live in and love, to dance to and to wallow in.

90
Spectrum Culture

Grimes has crafted a confident, moving and immersive work that not only seeks to break down the schism between Pop and Rock, but also makes a bold statement for female musicians who have their own unique visions and struggle to see them realized in an industry and genre continually dominated by men.

90
XLR8R

There's no doubt that Visions is an excellent album. Though it may be Boucher's third proper LP as Grimes, it sounds like the debut of a young artist, which is to say there are some missteps—albeit a rare occurrence. 

86
Coke Machine Glow

Visions, Boucher’s fourth formal release in just under two years and the best thing she’s yet put her name to by far, is very likely to be weird music’s worldwide coming out party.

85
Pitchfork

Visions finds Boucher mining not just the clean brightness of Aphex Twin-like atmospherics but also the immediacy of straight-up mall-pop

83
Entertainment Weekly

She’s got her own dreamy, glitchy art-pop. And yes, she’s still cooler than you.

80
Prefix

Maybe the best thing about Visions is that it makes it clear that with Grimes, questions of whether she’ll become another personality for us to howl over are beside the point; she’s exported to all of us her very compelling way of seeing, and now everyone has the chance to experience that too.

80
Clash
With 4AD’s renewed vigor in all affairs electonique and Boucher’s coherent elevation in both song quality and hook there’ll be no stopping this creative, sensual explosion of humanity called Grimes.
80
The Guardian

It's fit to burst with bone-bending synths, insistent beats and a sometimes shrill vocal that manages to both charm and unsettle.

80
Mojo
A glitchy shimmering dance record.
80
NOW Magazine

Grimes just raised the bar even further with her richly textured and inventive new album (the third in just two years).

80
Resident Advisor
Slightly distant, hazy synth pop is dime-a-dozen these days, and it's easy to get wrapped up in skepticism around this stuff. But there's something polyglot and cosmopolitan about Boucher's particular brand.
80
Gigwise
At once ethereal, at other times directly affecting - this is one album sure to appeal to fans of both electronic and indie music - without compromising on substance.
80
The Arts Desk

What makes Visions so flavoursome is that it’s accessible, it’s music that isn’t being wilfully difficult: the ingredients are tricksy, odd and sometimes incongruous, but their sum total is very approachable.

80
Louder Than War
The music has been created, polished, waxed and then buffed until it gleams, Grimes’ voice is the final factor that elevates it away from banal chart rubbish.
80
Q Magazine
It's over the top and exhilaratingly offbeat.
80
The Irish Times

Visions comes with a parade of deadly wee songs which originate from much the same rhythm'n'bleeps' hinterland as previous records such as Halifaxa, but Boucher has simplified and fine-tuned her approach to ensure each one sticks like glue.

80
Tiny Mix Tapes
We need pop music that sounds like this right now, because no one else seems quite so capable of confronting the tangle of expectations (or lack of expectations) in the post-capitalist music terrain.
80
DIY
Each song is a sonic pop adventure, mixing the best bits of music from the last few years to create an album that woos and moves and makes you want to dance around your bedroom.
80
The Fly
‘Visions’ is an album imbued with both the zombie-like grogginess of insomnia and the dark-minded thoughts of the obsessive and overtired.
80
PopMatters

Visions’ rebellious contrariness to evade classification is part of the design and certainly part of the charm.

80
The Skinny
Although apt to bewitch the listener with its seductive pop signifiers, this is music that stands up to obsessive scrutiny.
80
NME

It’s like skipping through a thousand excellent tracks on your iPod shuffle and isolating 13 perfect moments.

80
No Ripcord

Visions is beautifully conceived and executed, musically, lyrically and thematically.

78
Beats Per Minute

Delicious yet uncomplicated, satisfying but hardly filling, Visions showcases an artist with clear talent and potential.

75
The 405

Were this an EP, it might have been a perfect release, but as it stands Visions, while improving on previous work, is not yet the career defining moment that Boucher seemed to suggest it might be.

70
Drowned in Sound

Everything on Visions smells crisp and clean, doused in eco-friendly laundry detergent; there is no stench of compromise here.

70
Uncut
Beguiling GarageBand pop.
70
FACT Magazine

As time wears on you start to feel that things are a bit too ethereal, as ideas fall short of solidifying into concrete hooks and structures begin to feel just slightly aimless

70
Consequence of Sound

Visions is a remarkable outing for Boucher in that it manages to showcase her knack for spinning bits and pieces from all points on the musical spectrum into crafty, easily digestible pop.

70
SPIN

Boucher's talent lies in the balance of exploiting her gifts and leveraging what's come before her, but judiciously.

65
Northern Transmissions

Grimes could very well do okay with this new album as a track like “Oblivion” clearly stands out, but I’d be surprised if it broke through with any significant notoriety, but that’s not to say that she can’t in the future.

60
The Observer

Her third album is a beguiling decoction of pretty much everything going on in hipster musical circles, sweet and savvy and scary at the same time.

60
Slant Magazine
Vignette-like and capricious, the album is a portrait of a songwriter indulging her mercurial tastes for her own satisfaction.
60
Rolling Stone
Grimes isn't spooky enough to be "ghostly," and not substantial enough to hold your attention.
50
The Needle Drop

On the third album to come from the Canadian synth pop project Grimes, the songs feel a little undercooked--however, I will this this project has a nice, clear sound and style.

50
Under the Radar

Visions isn’t as much of an evolution as it is an elongation

RemisReviews
83

Thanks to the goat @Deton, I got recommended to check out Grimes for the first time! I never listened to her before, so this will be my introduction. I picked this album because I got told that I most likely won't like the other ones, and it's also the most popular one. The genre tags also intrigued me, as a big fan of Synthpop, I'm always down for releases from that genre that I haven't discovered yet, with Ethereal Wave and Indietronica elements added to it too, this sounded promising all ... read more

Space Vacation
99

💀💗

Beeyyaahh
80

2012 ✅

Thank god 2012 is over...man. This year was rather aggravating to get through. Sure, it gave me some absolute gems, but some absolutely disappointing and mediocre records as well.

Regardless! Visions, despite the year and it’s subpar appeal to me, has possibly marked a turning point in my taste without a doubt. Typically my taste remains quite rock solid along with how I consume music, but after hearing Visions I had a small revelation about my view of music.

See, I was ... read more

denkirena
70

Some very good highlights

haleylaely
85

yeah I'm into this !

magicalcloudss
86

Grimes showcases her unique sound on her third studio album with her distinct voice, her beautiful synths and her creative production.

highlights: genesis, skin, oblivion, be a body
meh: nightmusic, eight

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Added on: October 27, 2011