If you walk without rhythm…

July 16, 2011 10:19 AM

Insane, inscrutable, and angelic, Montreal artist Grimes's vocal melodies float on a barely subdued monster beat that threatens to uproot buildings and put holes in the ground.

Halfaxa is the artist's second album, and also her second in the productive year 2010.

Track 8 — Dream Fortress
Track 13 — My Sister Says the Saddest Things (with bonus Kuroneko)
Track 15 — Favriel (yes)

(Album preview courtesy of BBC Music.)

Before Halfaxa there came Geidi Primes (sic, January 2010), more tentative and searching:

Track 1 — Caladan (♫)
Track 3 — Zoal, Face Dancer (♫)
Track 5 — avi (♫)
Track 7 — Gambang (♫)

(More tracks on Weird Canada.)

((Highly relevant — Sting as Feyd Rautha in Dune.))

Darkbloom, a split EP with d'Eon, graced the world this year with its more mainstream sound.

Track 2 — Vanessa (with bonus Alphaville)
Track 3 — Crystal Ball

interview | interview
live | live | live
(MeFites of DC may have seen her at the 9:30 club in May, opening for Lykke Li.)

Oh, and she's also a part-time illustrator.

posted by Nomyte (19 comments total)

I'm not really getting the insane or monster beat part of this, but I did like this one: Heart Beats.
posted by DarkForest at 10:54 AM on July 16, 2011

I have to admit that YouTube sound compression is merciless to low-frequency sounds.
posted by Nomyte at 10:58 AM on July 16, 2011

Yeah, kinda Cocteau Twins/M83 chillwave stuff. I like it, but I feel a bit bait-and-switched.
posted by klangklangston at 10:59 AM on July 16, 2011

Insane, inscrutable, and angelic, Swedish artist iamamiwhoami's vocal melodies float on a barely subdued monster beat that threatens to uproot buildings and put holes in the ground.
posted by carsonb at 11:21 AM on July 16, 2011 [2 favorites]

I found out about her from the pretty great Altered Zones soundcloud feed, it might sound better than YouTube.
posted by Bookhouse at 11:23 AM on July 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

I love this. Thanks!
posted by FAMOUS MONSTER at 11:23 AM on July 16, 2011

Ah, cool, she's awesome, I just saw her a month ago.
posted by esprit de l'escalier at 11:28 AM on July 16, 2011

So why is that Sting thing relevant? I just choked on my coffee I laughed so hard.
posted by philip-random at 11:33 AM on July 16, 2011

Because the first album has a running Dune theme, and one of the tracks is named after Sting's character.
posted by Nomyte at 11:51 AM on July 16, 2011

her record label--Arbutus Records--is every bit as awesome as she is, and one of my favourite things about Montreal right now. all their acts are good, but Blue Hawaii is especially deserving of a tip of the hat.
posted by spindle at 11:58 AM on July 16, 2011

South shore represent!
posted by furtive at 1:50 PM on July 16, 2011

Trance music in general has a serious obsession with Dune for some reason. There's lots of other "transcendental" sci-fi they could be inspired by. Is it just because of the movie?
posted by CaseyB at 2:41 PM on July 16, 2011

Is she actually from Calgary (like all the members of Braids) or someplace else in Canada, like every other "Montreal" artist who moves to Montreal to partake of a "scene" that would never exist if the artists who are the "scene" hadn't moved to Montreal to CREATE it?
posted by ethnomethodologist at 2:48 PM on July 16, 2011

Music for lotion commercials.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 4:38 PM on July 16, 2011

Yeah, kinda Cocteau Twins/M83 chillwave stuff

Reminded me of Orbital too (fan video ...).

okay it's just an excuse to post an orbital link ...
posted by carter at 4:51 PM on July 16, 2011

she's no henry grimes, but it's all good
posted by facetious at 10:55 PM on July 16, 2011

I was enjoying these songs, until the word 'Enyastep' popped into my head unbidden.
posted by jack_mo at 11:47 AM on July 17, 2011 [2 favorites]

I was listening to 2 of her tracks this morning. Couldn't really get in to it, but still might go see her live since she's performing with Gobble Gobble on the 27th, whom I love.
posted by Theta States at 7:00 AM on July 18, 2011

Thanks for blogging my video, I appreciate it :) I highly recommend seeing Kuroneko in its entirety as well, it is definitely one of a kind.
posted by aknudsen at 9:29 AM on July 20, 2011