COOL MUSIC ♫ Grimes

Claire Boucher (born March 17, 1988), better known by her stage name Grimes, is a Canadian artist, musician, and music video director. Grimes began recording experimental music while attending McGill University in Montréal, where she became involved with the underground electronic and industrial music scene. Grimes' music has been noted by critics and journalists for its atypical combination of vocal elements, as well as a wide array of influences, ranging from industrial and electronic to pop, hip hop, R&B, noise rock and even medieval music.

Grimes' music is not easily defined. An eclectic mix of styles which she herself describes as "ADD music", it shifts frequently and dramatically – "I go through phases a lot." Her work has been likened to various artists, including Björk and Enya and she was described by Tastemakers Magazine as an "alien love-child of Aphex Twin and ABBA" The Guardian summarised her musical style: "By sounding a little like everything you've ever heard, the whole sounds like nothing you've ever heard."



According to Grimes, she had a "realization" at age 20 as to how music was created, which enabled her to begin recording and experimenting. "One day, I was listening to music and it suddenly made sense to me how it was constructed", she said. She went on, saying: "I have a nervous tic. When I was a kid, I would constantly be banging on things with my foot. Making music has been a really good mechanism for releasing some kind of percussive issue that I have. It's usually about finding a perfect beat; I play around until I get a tempo I like and then it's just a matter of filling in the blanks."
Her primary instruments are keyboards and synthesizers, sometimes accompanied by drums and occasionally guitar instrumentation. Grimes utilizes looping and layering techniques, particularly with vocals; many of her songs feature layers of over fifty different vocal tracks which create an "ethereal" sound.