Any fan of Grimes could guess the Canadian artist pulls inspiration from obscure places. However, in an interview with Q Magazine, Claire Boucher shares that these days, those inspirations might not be what you think they are. With her new album Art Angels (the title of which she just revealed), Grimes has found herself influenced by what she calls “bro art,” a realm which constitutes everything from Al Pacino to Bruce Springsteen.
In conversation with Q Magazine, she explains how these bros informed her soundscape. “‘One song on the album, ‘Kill V Maim,’ is written from the perspective of Al Pacino in The Godfather Part II’,” she tells the mag. ‘‘Except he’s a vampire who can switch gender and travel through space.’‘
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Even in masculine gangster territory, the ethereal artist looks for concepts that bend the norm. On Art Angels, Grimes confesses, she took a different approach from the last — not only when it comes to bros. Seeking something deeper, more mature, she took to the woods to create. She shares in the below excerpt what this time entailed and what she learned about herself in the process:
‘‘I wanted to get away from Hollywood bullshit. So I moved to Squamish, a small town in British Colombia. There was a lot of ‘crazy’ going on, but it was organised ‘crazy’ – like lying in the dark and seeing if I could hallucinate. It felt good, letting myself be a total fucking weirdo. And I had cookies…I was a much weaker person when I wrote Visions. It was a sad record — cathartic, but victim-y. During this album I’ve got control of my music. It feels more developed. On Visions I was still in school, mentally. Since then, I’ve wanted to make something strong and aggressive because it’s more reflective of me.”
Just this morning, Grimes also shared its cover art, designed by the artist herself. See it below.