Canadian singer-songwriter Grimes (Clair Boucher) has always been known for her kooky style and eclectic musical direction, where her work encompasses a flurry of genres from art pop to electro to R&B and more. As the artiste has finally announced the release date of her new album Art Angels following a scrapped album in 2014, fans are getting more than just another pandoras box of her musical styles; Grimes has also released a new video and album artwork created by her, and it’s a little unsettling – perfect for Halloween, if you may.
Attributing the influence of her album to “bro art,” which Grimes says is everything from Al Pacino to Bruce Springsteen, her cover artwork and track-by-track artwork takes up more abstract forms. A scroll through her Tumblr reveals a rich mix of illustrations that weave through Anime characters, wildlife, squeamish doodles, and outright monstrous beings. Here are some gems from the collection:
If those aren’t disturbing enough, perhaps her new music video is. With two songs in one video (divided into Act I and Act II) Grimes builds us up with the all-too-happy, upbeat tune ‘Flesh Without Blood,’ before crushing the mood with the much slower and darker ‘Life in the Vivid Dream.’ The first act shows Grimes decked out in an array of elaborate, colourful costumes – a white angel with a pink cowboy hat in a glittery pink room, and a bright orange 18th century getup with violet hair – which all goes to hell as ‘Life in the Vivid Dream’ turns all that into a strange, bloody, depressing mess, knife in hand too.
Turns out Grimes wrote, directed, edited, coloured and art-directed the video herself. Check it out (spoiler: it gets a little gory towards the four-minute mark) below.
Grimes’ Art Angels will be released digitally on 6 November and physically on 11 December.
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