Tom: “This is what we in Sweden would call ‘Fulsnygg’, ‘ugly-pretty’,” writes our reader Stefan. “This song has been coming out from my speakers ever since I first heard it in August.”
He also describes the video as “very artsy”, which is quite the understatement. Advance warning: the first minute of this isn’t actually the track, so feel free to skip forward if there’s just too much artsy. Which there is.
Tim: I’m…not entirely sure what I just watched. It was…unusual? Yes, that describes it.
Tom: I started out expecting to really dislike this. But once it actually deigns to kick in, it’s really, really good. I’m not sure that modern synthpop – the trippy, ambient kind – gets much better than this.
Tim: It’s very…it’s sort of…quite— to be honest, I’ve been trying to write for about five minutes now and I still don’t know how to put into words what I think. I like it, I know that much, because it’s not really something you can dislike. I can imagine someone choosing to ignore it, or thinking “what the hell’s this?” (neither of which applies to me, by the way), but I think it would be hard to form strong opinions against this.
Tom: Even with the video?
Tim: Well, yes, there is that video, which I think (for me at least) takes away from it, because I’m listening to it again without the video, and it strikes me as a lot less out there than it did before. I still think it’s unusual, but I do like it more because I’m not now thinking “this is just plain odd”. It’s calming, it’s relaxing, it’s…no, I’ve gone again.
Tom: Grimes, incidentally, is the pseudonym of one Claire Boucher, who’s been making more experimental music for a while. This is the first time she’s made something mainstream enough to get on our radar, I reckon – and I’m rather hoping she keeps doing it.
Tim: Yeah. Yeah, I could hear more of it.
It’s not the most ringing endorsement I’ve ever heard from you, but it still counts.