Whilst we understand artistic integrity – we’re pretty darn devo about Grimes’ ‘lost album’. Newly released track ‘REALliTi’ is like rubbing salt in our sad sad wounds.

A constituent from the discarded album, which was to be the follow up to the fantastic 2012 Visions, the track is hard on the heartstrings. After ditching the album due to an initially poor reception of early track ‘Go’ (penned as ‘radio-friendly’ and banger-esque), Grimes returned to the drawing board yet again. She told the New York Times the album ‘sucked, so I threw it out and started again’.

This track and"> ‘Go’ may be the only remnants of the project that will ever surface, and for that reason, our hearts are heavy. And whilst we’re in the melancholy zone, Grimes speaks out in the songs description;

“Since this is no longer gonna be on the album, I’m releasing it as a special thank you to everyone in Singapore, KL, Manila, Jakarta, HK, Shanghai, Beijing, Taipei, Seoul, Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo who came out to the shows! It was an honor to play with a bunch of amazing bands and travel to places I would never otherwise be able to go.”

The video features Grimes on her Asian tour – just generally having the best time. It’s the perfect backdrop for the synth slow burner. Drawing on sweeping futuristic strings and striking kicks, it’s beautifully Grimes and feels fully formed – despite the fact the track is essentially in demo format.

If I may be so bold (and I will), I think it is a massive shame that Grimes was turned off the album’s release. If the reasoning was because a select number of fans couldn’t handle a slight foray into a generic sound, I have to call bullshit. In my writing, I’ve been burned before by suggesting one song is evocative of an album’s complete sound or theme. I was burned because I was so wrong (this rare moment of humility feels weird) and albums are more often than not diverse pieces of work. When looking at Grimes previous work – she is diverse as hell. Visions is a bubbling pot of ambient, techno, pop and world music. Why wouldn’t this album have shown the same variation?

Yes, it’s her choice and as an artist you’d have to only release music you’re truly proud of, but we still think it’s a crying shame that Grimes’ album has been lost into the ether. ‘REALiTi’ only proves the harsh reality (?) of this.

Check it out and share my sadness below:

[via Consequence of Sound]

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