When Grimes recorded her breakthrough album Visions in 2011, she was going through a chapter of emotional turmoil. The LA-based singer.-songwriter, born Claire Boucher, had emerged from a period of drug addiction and two of her friends had recently died. She locked herself in a room with blacked-out windows, ‘‘tons’‘ of amphetamines and no food. Nine days without sleep resulted in an altered mind state, plus a dazzling portfolio of gurling electronica and pop synths that translated into huge critical acclaim and a Juno award in 2013 for Electronic Album Of The Year.
Boucher’s as-yet-untitled follow-up, due in October, was made under less tumultuous circumstances, though her porcess still bordered on the eccentric. ‘‘I went to the woods’‘ she says, talking between mouthfuls of spaghetti in her LA home studio, where work on her fourth studio release has only just been completed. ‘‘I wanted to get away from Hollywood bullshit. So I moved to Squamish, a small town in British Colombia. There was a lot of ‘crazy’ going on, but it was organised ‘crazy’ - like lying in the dark and seeing if I could hallucinate. It felt good, letting myself be a total fucking weirdo. And I had cookies.’‘
Such are the extremities in which Boucher curently operates. When work started on her latest project in June 2014, she dispensed with the synthesized spine of Visions and learned how to play the driving guitars and New Order- style basslines that underpinned her latest batch of throbbing pop harmonies.
Boucher also immersed herself in a concept she refers to as ‘‘bro-art’‘: albums by such artist as Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen, and gangster movies. ‘‘One song on the album, Kill V Maim, is written from the perspective of Al Pacino in The Godfather Pt 2,’‘ she says. ‘‘Except he’s a vampire who can switch gender and travel throught space.’‘
With a set of songs completed, Boucher relocated to Hollywood last September where the album was recorded and self-produced. Of the tracks played to Q Laughing And Not Being Normal most ties in with her earlier, more experimental material, while Flesh Without Blood treads poppier turf with pulsing basslines and Boucher’s soaring vocals. Meanwhile, her lyrics have been imbued with a renewed sense of strenght.
‘‘I was a much weaker person when I wrote Visions,’‘ she says. ‘‘It was a sad record- cathartic, but victim-y. During this album I’ve got control of my music. It feels more devoloped. On Visions I was still in school, mentally. Since then, I’ve wanted to make something strong and agressive because it’s more reflective of me’.‘
Emotionally honest, perennially bonkers and more harmonious, Grimes’ latest work has framed her in a brighter place. And with a healthier appetite, too.
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