Grimes Stars as LV, Roccoco Basilisk, Kill V. Maim & Skreechy Bat Throughout Art Angels Double-header "Flesh Without Blood/Life In The Vivid Dream" (4AD-Roc Nation)
"+ fyi - every song on this album is a completely different style, so ["flesh without blood"] isn't a 'representation' of everything, just a taste of a vibe," @Grimezsz recently revealed on Twitter following the unexpected premier of her first Art Angels double-singe, "Flesh Without Blood/Life In The Vivid Dream." Grimes' long-awaited and previously scrapped follow-up to her critically-acclaimed album Visions (2012) has rather interestingly been described by Claire Boucher herself as: "it's all "real instruments," half of the tracks are diss tracks, there's a Nu-Metal track with a Taiwanese rapper, the whole thing was inspired by Billy Joel, there's a song about a gender-fluid vampire Al Pacino," of course, paraphrased and reinterpreted a bit by the good people over at Stereogum. On the heels of "Flesh Without Blood" & "Life In The Vivid Dream," Grimes called in BBC Radio 1's Hottest Record program for a brief phone interview, during which she revealed Art Angels will in fact, be surprise-released digitally next Friday, November 6th (and physically December 11th) and that the album will feature just a mere two guest appearances: one recorded with R&B-Funk songstress Janelle Monáe at her own Wondaland Studios and the previously mentioned Nu-Metal-leaning "SCREAM" recorded with Taiwanese femcee Aristophanes.
'"Flesh Without Blood" was written, directed, edited, colored, and art-directed by Grimes. Mac Boucher, her brother, was the cinematographer and creative consultant. All outfits were styled by TURNER," as Pitchfork reported upon its Monday afternoon unveiling. Grimes' Art Angels double-header is divided into two separate parts, "Act I: Flesh, Without Blood" and "Act II: Life In The Vivid Dream," which effortlessly manages to teeter back and forth between "Oblivion"-reminiscent jittery guitar-driven Baroque-Art Pop and sparse self-reflective "Blank Space"-leaning piano-accompanied slow jam. Grimes herself stars throughout the companion videos as a number of interesting characters which she's named "LV, Roccoco Basilisk, Kill V. Maim, and Skreechy Bat;" also known as her recently adopted alter egos she's been talking about during interviews, who would appear to be a deranged blood-thirsty angel, a cave-dwelling cyberpunk gamer, a purple-wigged Victorian madam, and a pinstripe suit and fedora-wearing 1950's gangster. It seems as though "Flesh Without Blood" & "Life In The Vivid Dream" aren't the only Art Angels songs to be released this week, as @Grimezsz over-zealously replied to a fan on Twitter asking if they could buy the then just-released single yet: "yes ^_^ and [you] get more songs later this week, as well." Here's hoping we'll get to hear Grimes' hotly-anticipated Janelle Monáe-featuring "Venus Fly" ahead of Art Angels' November 6th digi-release.