Grimes has been gearing up for a little while to finally drop some full-length music - on Twitter, she told a fan that she had been hoping to release “everything” June 15, but production issues have put everything back another week. Eek.
But in the meantime, the Art Angels musician has shared some phone-recorded snippets of forthcoming tunes on her social media, from an iTunes playlist titled ‘13 Decent Tracks’. The first, tentatively titled “Adore U”, is described as a “cheesy love song”, one that she doesn’t like so much but everyone around her does. Grimes adds that it was made with her new mellotron. It’s a twinkly, sad track.
The second demo is introduced as her “ethereal chav jam” and a “cyberpunk interpretation” of the film Bajirao Mastani, an Indian romantic historical epic, from the perspective of warrior princess Mastani. The tune itself is stark, with some definite drum and bass vibes. It’s also not the first time she has written from the perspective of a character, as she did with “Kill V Maim”, where she had a gender-switched vampire version of Al Pacino in Scarface in mind.
Across the ‘13 Decent Tracks’ playlist, the recordings show demos with playful titles like “Blaze Forever”, “Black Swan Blues”, “Favourite Psycho”, “DARQ SOULS”, and “Deth Angels”. Some of these names popped up on a work-in-progress tracklist she has previously shared.
The artist responded to a flurry of questions from fans underneath her tweets. When asked about the album cover for the upcoming record, she related that she’s using a new illustration style. It is, she says, like “kirby dots mixed with Charles Burns aesthetic”, but which is also “alien/sci-fi and shiny”. From Art Angels, to Visions, and Halfaxa, Grimes has produced some fascinating, extraterrestrial and faerie-like imagery to go with her releases.
Additionally, Grimes told another Twitter user that “Dark Souls” is her favourite demo so far. “It’s a powerful spell that accidentally upended by life,” she tweeted. “Scary song. Not sure if good or evil.”
Grimes confirmed that an official album release and follow-up to 2015’s Art Angels should happen in the next year, relating that autumn 2018 would work best if she makes her production deadline. “I’m rushing and slamming the shit super hard,” she tweeted. “16 hr days kind thing for a min now. Tired.”
The Canadian musician and producer also told Twitter her fave films were Park Chan Wook’s The Handmaiden, Terrence Malick's The New World, and south London alien invasion movie Attack the Block, while HBO series Game of Thrones is her fave thing ever committed to film.
Most recently, an image of Poppy and Grimes was shared on social media, hinting that the musicians were working on new music together. She also recently appeared on K-pop band Loona’s “love4eva” and Janelle Monae’s incredible “Pynk”.