Grimes (musician) life and biography

Grimes hits the mark with her eclectic, post-internet pop songs. Born Claire Boucher is a talented Canadian artist, indie-pop/electronic musician, and music video director.

For those unaware, Grimes is the a project that has gained notoriety since its inception back in early-2010. Moving to Montreal from Vancouver in 2006, she developed Grimes among the city’s burgeoning DIY scene; a scene where both punk ethos and pop music collide, resulting in a distinct sense of community, religiosity and psychedelic revelry. Also a prolific force, Visions will be her fourth release in less than two years and countless shows have been performed in this time, both helping to build much intrigue as to what’s next - "She's blossoming and developing almost more quickly than we can keep track of... (She) could very well be poised for a meteoric rise with the release of her next full length." (by Pitchfork).

With her creative bent being both musical and visual, her second self embodies the arts of 2D, performance, dance, video and sound, weaving them all together to strong rhythmic effect. Subsequent records have sharpened her production skills and each one has tackled different influences and styles. This new set incorporates influences as wide as Enya, TLC and Aphex Twin, whilst drawing from genres like New Jack Swing, IDM, New Age, K-pop, Industrial and glitch resulting in a record that is both otherworldly and futuristic.

Claire describes her work as, "the only means through which I can be fully expressive. It is both an ethereal escape from, and a violent embrace of, my experience. The creative process is a quest for the ultimate sensual, mystical and cathartic experience and the vehicle for my psychic purging. Visions was conceived in a period of self-imposed cloistering during which time I did not see daylight."

Visions came out January 31, 2012 via Arbutus Records, Canada. It received mostly positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 80, based on 42 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Meanwhile, Rolling Stone concluded that "Grimes isn't spooky enough to be 'ghostly,' and not substantial enough to hold your attention."

Claire Boucher interviewed by W Magazine rolls her eyes. The cause of her exasperation was the phrase "post-Internet"—throwaway words she once used to describe her strange, soulful electro-dance sound—which has been lobbed back at her ad nauseam. "It seems so pretentious," she said. Public relations aside, though, she still stands behind its meaning. Her self-produced album Visions, released this spring, has the media hailing the arrival of a "new breed of pop star." The work is unquestionably the result of growing up in a digital world. Like Boucher, who’s a thin wire of nervous energy, the songs are frenetic, with odd musical references ranging from Enya to Björk to Mariah Carey (for Boucher’s high falsetto). "It’s ADD music," she also explained. "I go through phases a lot."

Growing up in Vancouver, Boucher says, she went through a Goth period: "I cast spells on my brothers," she claims. (She considered herself a Wiccan back then.) Much like her music, Boucher’s style is always in flux. "I hate 'cute' ".


Albums

- Geidi Primes (Arbutus Records, 2010/No Pain in Pop, 2011)
- Halfaxa (Arbutus Records, 2010/Lo Recordings, 2011)
- Visions (Arbutus Records Canada/4AD, 2012)

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