It has been five years since Canadian Indie-Pop eminence Grimes, a.k.a Claire Elise Boucher, released an album. Since the release of Art Angels back in 2015, fans have been wildly anticipating a new record from and on Friday Feb. 21st, the young artist debuted her fifth studio album, entitled Miss Anthropocene. With this new record, Grimes offers a fundamental insight into the internal torment that she experiences towards human extinction, climate change, technology and society as a whole.
The album lavishly opens up with the eerie and roguish, “So Heavy I Fell Through the Earth”. This particular track fuses Grimes’ angelic vocals accompanied alongside industrial sounding horns and guitar riffs. The song pulls listeners back to a darker and discomforting place. For the duration of six minutes, it almost feels like you are listening to a sinister intergalactic hymn.
From there on, Grimes manages to perfectly incorporate the use of Taiwanese rapper 潘PAN within “Darkseid”. The flow, rhythm, beats and vocals continue to simultaneously build up in intensity as bursts of doom-laden rhythms and bass can be heard echoing in the background.
“Delete Forever” expands upon the artist’s experimentation with country-pop and is extremely melancholic and sensitive in its nature as it deals with the ongoing opioid problem in America. Grimes makes subtle references to celebrities that lost their lives due to overdosing on drugs as mentioned in the verse “Cannot comprehend, lost so many men. Lately, all their ghosts turn into reasons and excuses”.
The fourth track “Violence” is by far the most personal and fundamentally communal, heavily referencing the abusive relationship dynamic between the Earth and humans. Grimes’ ethereal and synthesized voice provocatively exclaims “You want to make me bad and I like that like that”
Two of the more poignant tracks off Miss Anthropocene include “4ÆM” and “IDORU”. Both songs amplify a heavenly yet futurist vibe and pivot amid vibrant beats. “4AEM” picks up speed and almost resembles a Bollywood sampled song. Meanwhile, “IDORU” focuses on the idea of a relationship that is on the brink of falling apart as mentioned in the verse, “And even though I’m breaking/at least I feel something.”
“My Name is Dark” features a clean, uncomplicated sound mix. The guitar and bass sound distorted however; at the same time, it presents a bulky appeal. Grimes explores the concept of death. One memorable verse from this song includes the line “I don’t need to sleep anymore/that’s what the drugs are for.”
“New Gods” merges the artist’s whispery like vocals with spare strumming and maintains a soft flow. It is a fittingly somber track for a song about dismantling religion and creating a new one. Grimes chants “But the world is a sad place, baby/Only new gods can save me.”
The last bonus track on this album is entitled “We Appreciate Power”. The nu-metal apocalyptic track explores artificial intelligence and hints at human extinction. Grimes and her creative partner, HANA repeatedly sing: “But AI will reward us when it reigns”
Miss Anthropocene features 10 nihilistic tracks which all bring forth a ground-breaking sound. Not to mention, the record incorporates heavier and darker beats, rhythm, chorus and vocals. It isn’t a surprise that Grimes chose to explore controversial topics as the larger intent of this album is to shock listeners into re-evaluating certain habits and to question life more. This is by far the most rejuvenating album that Grimes has put into production and a thought-provoking album that provides a fresh outlook on the topics that most artists would hesitate to explore.
