ALEX ALBRECHT
The artist of this album cover is Claire Boucher, who is more commonly known as the creative mastermind “Grimes.” This cover was created after the completion of this album, apparently while watching the movie “Enter the Void” by Gaspar Noé. She has illustrated most of her album covers using a signature experimental India ink technique. During her time in Montreal she also used to design posters for other musicians, artists, and events- depicting fantasy scenes and various witchy elements in the same black and white ink technique. Before her success as a musician, she hosted gallery shows for her ink artwork as well. Grimes is a huge proponent of managing her own image, so she directs her own music videos, and oversees other portions of her “brand” creating other forms of media like digital artwork, coloring books, and merch. This album art depicts a skull regurgitating bows, eyes, flames, and different languages underneath “Grimes”which is written boldly at the top.There are Russian sentences scattered around, the first one which reads “I am living for the last time” and a bottom text which roughly translates to “My head is cleaned out.”
Critically heralded as a revelation in pop, this record is an insane trip through electro wonderland that is entirely original and way before its time. The album is in perfect harmony with the album cover, which is also wholly original and entirely a product of the ideas of Boucher herself. The album art contains many different elements and is hard to quantify into one category, just like it is difficult to encapsulate this album in one genre, as it touches upon many different ones.This album was written during a 3 week period of time where Boucher locked herself in her Montreal apartment and blacked out the windows without interacting with anybody in an effort to channel creative forces in an extreme way (Richards, 2012.) She used the development of this album to cope with assault, drug addiction and the tragedies that she had experienced in her life preceding this period, and therefore a lot of dark, tumultuous, as well as happy elements of healing emerge through here. Creating an album like this is surely a way of catharsis, and that is exactly what this album, and the artwork represent.
Out of all the songs featured, the most popular song from this album is “Oblivion” which is written directly about her assault (Richards, 2012.)This song is truly haunting, the synth refrain that repeats throughout is incredibly addicting. Her vocals come in high and breathy with layered effects to add to the ethereal quality. Similar to the album cover, there are lots of elements present in this song through various electronic instruments, as well as elements of sweetness mixed in with gloominess. It is important to note that this album came out nearly ten years before this modified format of pop music has begun to reach mainstream success. Even though she is not directly affiliated with the hyper-pop genre which is gaining traction in the music world, many give artists like Grimes and M.I.A the credit for its beginnings. “Nightmusic” which is a collaboration between Grimes and Montreal band Majical Cloudz, is another highly danceable number that features backwards vocals, alien synths, and hypnotic percussion. The cover is an amalgamation of terror, happiness, and the dichotomy between wanting to be a sweet girl and being a tough one. This song has the same sort of playfulness, where it speaks of love but also has a thread running through it of triumph over tragedy.
One of my favorite records of all time, “Visions” holds a special place in my heart as one of the greatest musical influences of my youth. Growing up and listening to this album resulted in an incredible musical epiphany and introduced me to dozens of other artists in the same vein. The music featured on this record is some of Boucher’s finest, due to the circumstances that the album was made in and the representation that it holds as a defeat of her personal demons through art.This album was created right on Parc Ave, and that knowledge adds a personal element of the inspiration that surrounded her during its development. Everything that Boucher does is all encompassing, she makes her own music, sings it, produces it, makes the artwork, and performs it. This idea of control, especially in a male dominated industry- is refreshing and appealing to everybody who intends to also inhabit the creative world. There are numerous levels of connection that I hold with this record- as a woman there are many references to assault and those references are powerful and touching. In interviews, Boucher speaks a lot about struggling to connect with others, and how creating music and art is the way that she connects with people. Many refrains/lyrics/titles in this album touch upon this idea of not being fully human, and of feeling detached from the world. This is something that speaks to me, as I see art and music as an universal mediator as well and use it to connect to others when traditional means do not suffice. Overall, this record is an exhilarating romp through the tormented and whimsical parts of Boucher’s creative vision. Without compromising herself in any way, Boucher bares her soul and transforms the future of pop.