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How do you feel your music is perceived by listeners both inside and outside of
your genre? Is this something you care about or is the curating and performing of
your music a completely personal experience?
I don't really know how people perceive it; I don't read reviews or comments. I find this to be very negative for my psyche.  I just try to make the music I want to hear and hope people get what I get from it.  Or what they want to get from it.  I know a lot of the time when I listen to music, I am getting something from it that is very different from what was intended by it, so I feel like I don't have a set idea of how I want people to take it.  

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It can be tough to make out the lyrics in your songs and you’ve said that you are
embarrassed by them at times.
I'm not really embarrassed by them; I think it’s more that they are intensely personal. I use music for cathartic purposes, so usually my songs are about things that I feel very emotional about.  I need to write about that stuff because that’s what allows me to have an emotional attachment with the music, personally, but I don't necessarily want everyone else to know what the songs are about specifically.  I think the emotional intention can be translated without the words being super explicit.  



You gave up neuroscience for Grimes. Science, something certain and generally
stable compared to the subjective art of electro-ambient music curating are not
usually seen in the same persons past. 

I just don't set any boundaries for myself.  If I want to do something I will do it, unless it infringes on someone else in a way that I feel is negative or something.  Like, I'm not going to go on a killing spree, but if I want really want to do something, I will do it.  School was boring me, and attempting to study something objectively while relying on an incredibly fallible perceptive tool (the human brain) just seemed kind of pointless.  I think artistic pursuits acknowledge their own absurdity in a way that science never can, so if everything is kind of crazy, or unknowable, at least I’d rather focus on something fun.  

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You once said that ‘Visions’ was a cathartic experience, having gone through a rough period a few years back. Could you explain what that was like?
I mean, all the music I make is fairly cathartic.  It's how I deal with life really. Everyone goes through tough shit. ‘Visions’ was my response to a lot of the stuff that had happened to me previous to that album. I feel like before I made that album I was very wounded and had terrible anxiety problems and post traumatic stress disorder issues.  It was very hard for me to live my life normally.  I feel like getting all that out, and then facing the task of performing constantly, really pushed me out of the stupor I was in.    



 

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Claire Boucher, a.k.a Grimes, is changing the way in which experimental music is perceived. The scene has never seen such a method with her modestly beatific voice matched with an electro-ambient sound that is outstandingly haunting. We talk with the girl who’s current album “Visions’ is taking the indiesphere by storm.



Interviewer - Gabrielle Greet

The indiesphere can often be stereotyped as brand-based and hugely image related. How do you feel about that?

Hmm, I don't know.  I don't think it’s necessarily like that.  I don't personally support any brands unless they are my friends’ things.  I think things being image oriented is important though.  I was a visual artist for over a decade before I started making music, and the art direction associated with Grimes is very specific and thought out.  The visual presentation of something really contextualizes it.  I don't want to be another 'singer', I want the project to be different and meaningful and I want people to know that I do it myself and that I'm not trying to be a sex object or anything like that, so my image is very important to me. 

The dream pop essence of your work is intensely satisfying on a set of earphones. How do you feel the tracks translate to live performances? 
The live shows are a lot more aggressive than the album, I think just because I've had to become a lot more aggressive since making this album.  A lot of people want me to do a lot of things I don't want to do, ha ha. But yeah, generally I like to play more of a dance thing, but since I'm making it live I can really change it. Like, I can play a sit down show, a quiet show, it depends. 



Your artworks are very psedu-comicbook type images with the repeated use of solid black ink. Is there reason for this? What inspires you to create your esoteric pieces?
I am very inspired by Charles burns and Manga and Anime.  I learned to draw from comics actually.  I used to work in a comic book store, ha ha.  I try to combine contemporary comic book aesthetics with more medieval and heavy metal themes.  My favourite painter is Heironymous Bosch. 

You are known for your expressive dress sense. Is fashion something you consciously create?
I just like to make things beautiful when I can. I don't care if I look pretty, but for grimes stuff I like it to look cool.

Have you ever considered touring SA? Did you know your music was reaching South Africans and being received exceedingly well?
Is it?  I REALLY want to go to South Africa.  It seems like the most foreign possible place, and so beautiful.  I wanted to go for the world cup, but it was too expensive.|





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