FUSE TV - The Most Impressive Detail of Grimes' 'Art Angels' Album

If you're a person who gets their music on the Internet and/or reads music writing on said Internet, by now you know that Grimes' new album, Art Angels, is getting rave reviews. Everyone from the hipster sites that championed her for years to mainstream publications previously unconcerned with covering the Canadian musician (née Claire Boucher) are saying that her latest release has successfully melded her offbeat creativity in an accessible way. (See album closer "Butterfly," where she sings from the perspective of the titular insect, but breaks into a dreamy, synth-pop breakdown that could fit onto a Kaskade album.) But what's the most impressive part of Art Angels is how entirely its creator owns its sound: After all, Grimes sang, wrote, produced and recorded all of the album on her own.

This is not a groundbreaking feat: other artists have singlehandedly sculpted entire albums before, and modern-day critical darlings like Kate Bush, Laura Marling and Julia Holter continue to do so semi-regularly. But Grimes moving into the mainstream pop realm with basically zero outside help is a different type of achievement. In an era in which artists like Kanye West and Frank Ocean can use many co-writers and producers and still get the "modern-day genius" tag thrown at them over and over, what Grimes does on Art Angels is nothing short of breathtaking.