Not fond of hippies and well into Marilyn Manson, self proclaimed ex-goth and visual artist turned producer Claire Boucher goes by the moniker Grimes, coz she’s dark like that.
Coming up from a quiet life in Canada, lil Miss Grimes was constantly surrounded by country and folk artists and so grew her disdain. “I’m really not into folk music. I grew up in Vancouver which is hippy central, everyone just plays their guitars on the street all the time and I just wanted to do something that sounded dark and was meaningless. It was actually a joke at first, I never thought anyone would hear the music.” Most commonly spotted skulking around school campus wielding a parasol, averse to the sunlight and inspired by the more sinister side of life, Claire packed death metal cassettes by the likes of Nine Inch Nails and Black Dice as opposed to the more popular beats preferred by her peers.
First realising her creative forte splicing together experimental footage, Claire began producing her own sounds: loop pedalling, synth fuelled soundscapes based around prophetically progressive vocals. Today she is the most discussed female artist on Hype Machine and a regular topic of rave review on taste making websites Abeano, Fader and Transparent. Planning to release her fourth album in two years this March, entailed Visions on 4AD, this K-pop princess is ambitious and highly original. Making intelligent music for deep thinkers she believes the processes of appreciating decent sounds, is a personal and intimate process. “I make music for thinking, people should feel however they want to feel, my live music is all about heavy bass and having a good time.”
i-D online caught up with the singing song writer to chat Bjork, Beyonce and beyond.
Text: Milly McMahon
Film and Photography: Rebecca Thomas
