Claire Boucher aka Grimes is a bit of an enigma, a strange little hipster girl who makes even stranger music. Yet given that strange, odd or quirky is the character trait that usually draws me to a person in the first place I can't help but feel absolutely enamoured with Grimes and this album that doesn’t fit the mold of a specific genre. This music is electronic yes but not quite dance music, has elements of the past but ultimately feels fresh and other worldly.
One of the first images that came to mind upon first listen was this was the music of a Japanese computer game character with the opening two tracks very much evoking an oriental feel for me (having grown up playing the likes of Final Fantasy series of computer games this fills me with feelings of warm) . In fact unusually in this Youtube age, I heard Grimes well before I ever saw her so it came as quite a surprise that she was a cute little white Canadian girl and not the Asian manga heroine I had so pictured. Visually is where it all comes together for Grimes (take lead video for Oblivion below) her style and look is is effortless cool but very much individual and her own. It’s clear that she understands the power of image and how to use it to her advantage as an artist. She is the whole package for me and I crave to find out more, if there is a Grimes newsletter I can subscribe to then sign me right up. My obligatory Wikipedia search on her throws back the below exert under her personal life.
‘In 2009, Boucher and her then-boyfriend from Tennessee constructed a 20-foot houseboat, named the "Velvet Glove Cast in Iron," with the intention to sail it down the Mississippi River from Minneapolis to New Orleans. The cargo included chickens, a typewriter, 20 pounds of potatoes and a gifted copy of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Boucher and her companion adopted the names "Varuschka" and "Zelda Xox" for the trip. Due to engine trouble and subsequent harassment from the Minnesota police, the journey was cut short and the houseboat and chickens were impounded’
Accuracy of Wikipedia aside if true, color me absolutely fascinated with Miss Boucher and I predict an amazing 2012 for this young rising star. A blindingly original album made in her parents bedroom by a clear pioneer of creativity and style.
Song tracks can take on the bizarre with titles such a ‘Vowels = Space + Time’ or Symphonia IX (my wait is u) and when you actually can make out what exactly she is saying there are elements of terror to this pretty sounding music (Extracts from Oblivion: ‘If someone could break your neck, coming up behind you, always coming and you’d never have a clue’). The chill you feel down your spine when she softly coos the words ‘see you on dark night’.
I think it goes without saying that I might have a bit of a girl crush and Claire Boucher now has one more fan to add to the would be masses she is about to accumulate.
Standout Tracks: Genesis, Oblivion, Circumambient, Vowels = Space + Time and Skin
Stream or Buy: Buy all the way
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