Grimes - Halfaxa (2010)

Synthpop / Art Pop / Chillwave / Witch House

RIYL: Gang Gang Dance, yeule, Eartheater

 ✪ VINYL FANTASY 

★★★★½

Back before Elon, when Grimes was the epitome of cool and a genuine feminist icon rather than an AI-worshipping corporate apologist, she took pride in owning every aspect of her music production. Determined to challenge the male-dominated industry and keep credit firmly in her hands instead of those of a male producer, she crafted and thoroughly polished every sound herself. Her second album, Halfaxa, is a lasting testament to this fiercely independent spirit - a raw, experimental dive into DIY artistry that she'd later refine on her more celebrated classics Visions and Art Angels.

The quick follow-up to her debut LP which came out only months earlier, the even more lo-fi Geidi Primes, expands on all of the best ideas (notably "Caladan" and "Beast Infection") of that release and cleans up the muddy production so it instead radiates a newly confident crystalline sheen. The core components of Grimes' nascent sound are still present: sampled drum kits repeating ad infinitum, ethereal vocals courtesy of what sounds like a trained opera singer gradually morphing into a kitten, and Eastern percussion, bells, chimes and synth pads all swirling neon-like around the steady tribal rhythms as they pierce through the mist of a dark and cavernous abyss.

The glossy coating allows the still-developing melodies to shine through even moreso than the ones on Geidi Primes were permitted (and it wasn’t until Visions that Grimes’ distinctive songwriting truly came into its own) but Halfaxa glimmers with its own bedroom-pop charm, making it a unique gem in Grimes’ discography. It’s an album that captures the essence of an artist on the brink of mastering her craft and still stands strong on its own merits over a decade later.