GRIMES - Halfaxa

Arbutus Records*

Buy digitally here

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Every now and again an album comes along that gets your futuristic juices flowing, a recording that leaves you genuinely excited about the future of independently made pop music. Halfaxa, the second album by Grimes, moniker of Montreal art-pop songstress Claire Boucher and in case you didn't know, her second release of 2010 following her debut Geidi Primes from earlier in the year, is that type of album; fresh, new and above all intensely vibrant. What possibly contributes to this is that Boucher has had no traditional music training. She actually admits that 'not knowing how to play music is (her) greatest asset'. The end product suggests that having an ear for music is just as important, if not more so, as theory and skill execution in the world of independently made music. No musician as expert needed here.

There is an 'out of this world' escapist feel of Boucher's approach to her music that in part stems from two self-admitted drug-induced experiences, one on speed, the other on acid further illustrating the importance of mind altering substances to the creative process. Speed got the process going, acid sent it off in all sorts of directions. Halfaxa is artistic, ethereal and adventurous pop music, each track abstract in substance and style. The album is a seamless journey across its 52 minutes with all fifteen tracks lending themselves to each other, fitting together into a whole.

The elements taken singularly are almost simple, but the arrangements are most certainly not. The skills of putting ideas together and producing a coherent framework is the key to songwriting. And even more important in this day and age is having the ability to create atmosphere by the process of exclusion, creating space, leaving room to breathe. Although a seemingly obvious point, its an intangible skill that is often taken for granted and lost among those still looking to virtuosity in music. However, only the very best know how to do it well and coming across something that works as well as Halfaxa, songwriting gold has been struck.

Boucher is a self- admitted fan of a variety of music styles and artists. While the Cocteau Twins and in particular, Elizabeth Fraser is the obvious reference point in a vocal sense, the work of Kate Bush and Mariah Carey has also been mentioned by Boucher as influential - a listen to the album will lower the inevitable raised eyebrows on the latter. And on that, she credits Carey for being the inspiration for her continuing vocal improvement, an improvement that can clearly be heard throughout the album.

Musically, there are definite elements of influences that span the decades stemming out of a variety of genres, dream pop, new wave, R & B and Industrial. Despite the DIY nature of the recording, the production is clean with Boucher's varied vocal styles being skillfully manipulated to complement her clever use of synth in sculpting soundscapes. Her vocals are readily complemented with pop driven hooks and melodies, all topped off with crisp, disciplined beats that are almost metronomic in style and reminiscent of krautrock. On Halfaxa and indeed perhaps more so on the debut, lyrics are secondary to the creation of atmosphere and Boucher herself admits that writing lyrics is not something she overly enjoys, certainly not to the point of overshadowing the music. Words are cheap so the saying goes.

First single 'Weregild' demonstrates aptly how Boucher uses her voice as instrumentation. Beginning with a high pitched parlour game sound, its soon hits its stride with a reverb drenched 4/4 beat, a spooky yet strangely comforting backing synth and looped vocal sounds and arrangements that wash over the listener like crashing waves. 'Sagrad' begins with a further demonstration of that vocal power married with string orchestration before giving way to an infectious dance beat and repetitively subtle yet hypnotic synth bursts. Boucher's echoed ooh's also add another dimension.

'Devon' begins an exquisite trio of songs that form Halfaxa's middle section and begins with a latin style beat before transforming into two distinct pieces of dream pop. Sitting underneath is a tinge of industrial which shouldn't meld well together but does. Indeed, it's essential. The second installment, the spectacularly gorgeous 'Dream Fortress' features Boucher's vocals soaring above a a sort of funky marching beat and the last of the trio, 'World Princess' begins woozily but menacingly and that off-kilter feel stays throughout the track as the vocals exude their signature cute warmth. Each of the three distinct tracks are interelated and share melody and form - a suite of songs if you like that could easily come together to form one.

Heading into the album's final third, 'Swan Song' is a infecting piece of dance-pop complete with a rumblingly consistent beat and a vocal hook that will capture your attention instantly. 'My Sister Says The Saddest Things' has at its core a scatty beat that possesses a sense of urgency and reaches its full form when the snare sound arrives giving the track added power. The purpose of 'Hallways' almost seems reflective, a reprisal of sorts that scoops up the aforementionedly heard contents and lays them out in a ordered fashion for further exploration. The interlude tracks that cut the album up into thirds also seem to perform the same function.

Make no mistake, Halfaxa is a groundbreaking album, accessible in its inaccessibility; that is the key to what makes it so good. While that may not make sense on the surface, the meaning is deliberately as abstract as the content of the album itself, left open to exploration and interpretation. Boucher's ability to meld together a variety of styles and tempos into a seemingly effortless tapestry of imagery and atmosphere is testament to her growing ability. That this ability has shone through so quickly in someone so young suggests that Claire Boucher has in her artistic keeping something both tangible and intangible, a growing skill as a creator of music and an awareness of how important and powerful inexplicability and mystery in music can be.

James Stocker - November 20, 2010.

My Sister Says The Saddest Things

Grimes (CAN)

From the album, 'Halfaxa', Arbutus Records.

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