MARCH 14 2020 LISTENER 55
S
ome musicians transition from
being an enjoyable pop figure into
An Important Artist. Rare ones –
such as Jimi Hendrix and Billie
Eilish – arrive with a significant debut
album, but most take time getting there.
Even David Bowie played Zelig-like roles
through glam pop and faux-soul before
his innovative “Berlin Trilogy” in the late
70s that announced his graduation
from a significant figure in pop
culture to An Important Artist.
The transition in these cluttered
days of ubiquitous social media is
probably measured by the artist
going from goofy Instagram pic-
tures to a Guardian profile.
Grimes – 31-year-old Canadian
Claire Boucher, who studied Rus-
sian literature and neuroscience at
Montreal’s McGill University – has always
delivered ambitious electronica-cum-R&B
pop. These days she's also famous as the
pregnant partner of tech mogul Elon
Musk.
However, her new album, Miss Anthro-
pocene, sees her elevation towards the
pantheon of Important Artists. In a cover
as coded as the music, Miss Anthropocene
takes its title from an amalgamation of
“misanthrope” and the Anthropocene, the
epoch in which humans began to directly
affect Earth’s ecosystems.
These are big references and this,
Grimes’ fifth album, opens with thestentorian gloom and gloriously dis-
orientating six minutes of So Heavy I
Fell Through the Earth. It signals a desire
for gravitas. What follows are staccato
drum programmes, heavily echoed sonic
effects, disembodied voices, Taiwanese
rapper PAN’s vocal sped up on Darkseid to
convey desperation (but in Japanese) and
some vague concept of a nihilistic Earthgoddess. It all adds up to an experimental
album to be taken seriously.
Grimes also includes indie guitar pop
(Delete Forever) and banging drum’n’bass
on 4AM, which invokes the ancient
Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite, and
has weirdly exotic samples appropriated
from the Bollywood blockbuster Bajirao
Mastani. However, these tracks are the
least effective in this otherwise compelling
brew, which mixes her elusive concept
with equally demanding personal con-
cerns. The bruising, beat-driven Violence
features ambiguous lyrics such as “I’m like
begging for it, baby ... Cause you, ha, ha,G
ET
TY(^) IM
AG
ES
Grimes’ grand
statement
The pop star strives
for artistic credibilty
on her unsettling new
album.
Sexuality and higher
powers are explored on
mesmerising ballad New
Gods: “The world is a sad
place, baby/Only brand
new gods can save me.”
MUSIC
by Graham Reid
you feed off hurting me”.
Sexuality and higher powers are
explored on mesmerising ballad New
Gods: “The world is a sad place, baby/Only
brand new gods can save me.” Bleak lyrics
about self harm dominate You’ll Miss Me
When I’m Not Around and My Name Is Dark
welcomes an impending
apocalypse – “We party
when the sun goes low,
imminent annihilation
sounds so dope” – but
also delivers a sense of
ennui and a despairing
need for belief: “The boys
are such a bore, the girls
are such a bore./I never
trust the government and
pray to God, for sure.”
The elevated, airy techno-pop of the
seven-minute IDORU at the end of the
album is a glimmer of hope after a journey
through the universal and individual
shadowlands.
Grimes sounds as confused as anyone
these days, but that’s what makes Miss
Anthropocene her major statement. It
doesn’t quite make her An Important
Artist, but it’s certainly uneasy listening
for those who feel they just weren’t made
for these times. l
MISS ANTHROPOCENE, Grimes (4AD/
Rhythmethod)
Grimes: the artist also known as Claire Boucher.