4AD Vinilo y CD

Review: It's hard not to be impressed by everything Grimes touches. From the moment this album's trippy downtempo titular opener emerges from submerged depths of sound you know the latest from the Canadian is going to be a special moment in pop. As if to accentuate our point, "Delete Forever", two tracks later, introduces acoustic guitar tips while still retaining deep timbre and utilising effects to hypnotic ends on those hummed vocal loops. "IDORU", which closes out the record, feels far more playful, simple keyboard and whispered choral lyricism introduced with a backing track of bird song, before broken club beats fall in. It might be most fitting to finish a write up on the aptly-titled "You'll Miss Me When I'm Not Around", its guttural bass guitars and EDM-leaning vocal stabs not the only things reminding us the world would be weaker without this one.

Review: Five long years, half a lengthy decade. We've waited a long time for Purity Ring to return to the release schedule and they mean pretty serious business in doing so. This one's not necessarily for the fainthearted, although the contents are gorgeous, glistening pop adventures that neither conform to standards in that rather loose and vague 'genre', nor jar ears to the point of putting anyone off. Opener, 'Rubyinsides' is a useful case in point. A lunging bassline and staccato off-beats are paired beneath near-falsetto vocals of the breathy rather than shrill nature. Shades of Lykke Li abound, then. 'Vehemance' follows a similar rhythmic pattern, with all the tracks existing in a macro-produced electronic scape. Subject matters are where the contrasts and challenges are found, with resilience in the face of obstacles that could be overwhelming - fear of the unknown, death itself - a consistent theme.