Musicians of all stripes, from Björk to Anohni, are speaking to their listeners through their songs and alerting them to the consequences of global warming. The pop-cyborg songstress known as Grimes — Claire Boucher in daily life — is one of them. Five years after her last masterpiece Art Angels was released to critical acclaim, she's finally unveiled her fifth LP, Miss Anthropocene, whose title makes clear reference to her commitment to the environment.
A few months ago, the Canadian songstress and composer dropped the news on her Instagram. She described the work as "a concept album about the anthropomorphic Goddess of climate Change: A psychedelic, space-dwelling demon/ beauty-Queen who relishes the end of the world. She's composed of Ivory and Oil." The character is incarnated by the artist in several clips that have teased the new tracks, including "Violence" and "Delete Forever," where she dons a long red dress on a surrealist, cosmic set.
Each of Miss Anthropocene's ten tracks manifest "a different embodiment of human extinction," according to Boucher, portraying an exacerbated crisis in order to better denounce it. Grimes, who in 2012 made waves with her album Visions and its hit singles "Genesis" and "Oblivion," thus continues the green engagement she's demonstrated from the jump. Her riders — sheets sent by artists to concert venues that detail the particulars and needs for the performance — have always been very eco-friendly; so much so that Pitchfork even penned an article on them in 2013. On the menu: organic and local fruits and vegetables, and a ban on plastic bottles and cutlery.