This Is Our Jam: Grimes, “Vanessa”

Grimes makes spaced-out jams that sound like the unlikely confluence of UK bass, italo disco, and lo-fi electronic pop. Yet such disparate comparisons only detract from an artist who is clearly on her own wavelength. Over the course of the hypnotic, meandering, “Vanessa,” Claire Boucher’s child-like vocals reach dizzying heights as she weaves in and out of new age blips and bloops. Boucher floats atop percussion that coalesces into a beat you may find yourself inadvertently dancing to. “Vanessa” shows Grimes to be an artist whose celestial haziness is anchored by an undeniably solid pop sensibility.