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The Music Room: Winter 2015

New music from Grimes, The Beverleys, Joanna Newsom and more.

AFTER SCRAWLING ON HER BEDROOM WALLS, losing her mind, making a near-perfect pop record and crafting music videos that changed the cultural conversation, it makes sense that Grimes (née Claire Boucher) might feel a little burned out. Art Angels (4AD) is the former Montreal-based solo artist’s highly anticipated follow-up to 2012’s Visions, and it was worth the wait. After scrapping her original material and starting over, Grimes (who plays guitar, violin, sings and makes her own beats on the album) created a pop star in her own image. There’s her bubblegum Taylor Swift character on “California,” a Trent Reznor/Harajuku cyber goth on “Scream,” a bratty cheerleader Gwen Stefani on “Venus Fly” and finally, smooth atmospheric synths and samples of her Mariah Carey-style falsetto coming to a head-on collision in “Pin.” In the age of the internet, why can’t a pop star contain multitudes? Signs ...

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