These pop loops are analogous to dance grooves, dependent on the interplay between repetition and variation as a separate machine of depth and drama. The scope of this project’s sound, along with doses of lyrical melodrama, is emphasized moment-to-moment in shifting forms; loose and occasionally haphazard structures give way to Grimes’ energy as a looming presence. She continues to fold pop into her aural image, which grows deeper into a sleeping, floating atmospheric palate. 

Loop interactions, the reification and development of ideas that crash into each other, reveal the best the album has to offer. “My name is dark” sounds truly nasty, destructive, and as the turbulent hook gets more and more worn and unhinged, even rusted, the bridge turns gears: the guitar strums which had been pasted to the background  (engaging in a drum pattern) come forth to reign things in. “Delete Forever” is a folk singer-songwriter approximation, which makes tender turns and depicts a grand scale. “IDORU’s” synthetic outdoorsy cycle serves a wonderful bounce. 

Not every diary entry lyric hits, but overall the project is haunting. Expressions like “I see everything” come from a low, lonely place and they echo. Grimes charts a widening distance from her fellow humans, culminating in the fantasy of “IDORU,” where, in some dream, a lover finally understands her, and will accept her, gloominess and all. 

Thematic companion movie: Lucio Fulci’s Aenigma