Grimes - Genesis

So this is unique. Grimes is a Canadian pop artist from Vancouver whose musical style can clearly be described as synthpop and dark wave electronic but Wikipedia goes on to include her genres as dream pop (which really defines Genesis) and also as "witch house". This is an interest genre term that I've never come across. Apparently it is defined as occult-themed dark electronic music with a visual aesthetic (see the costume design in the video). Witchcraft-infused trance music? Count me in! But let's look at Grimes for now.

The description of her music as "dream pop" sums it up perfectly. The music is hauntingly atmospheric with a synth-wave that carries you away into an ethereal dreamscape. Ambient music has always been a love of mine (having first immersed myself into Akira Yamaoka's haunting scores for the Silent Hill series and later discovering Brian Eno via U2) and I always felt it had a dreamy quality to the droning, floating progressions. Grimes' vocals hit the dream-zone spot on, being both eerie and sweet at the same time. I feel comforted but also a little lost in the way she sings. Her lyrics are nearly indecipherable, which can be off-putting for some listeners, but it doesn't bother me (I've listened to so much foreign language music and screaming metal that indecipherable lyrics don't detract from sound for me). The video here fits the bill of dream pop quite nicely too. The sunset landscapes are perfect for that dreamy quality, shooting right around "magic hour" (if you've seen Malick's Days of Heaven then you recognize the surreal quality that early morning can have on a cinematic image). However, it is largely the content of the film that creates a weird dream world - from the bizarre costume and make-up of the performers to their awkward dance routines. Characters stand still in unique postures while one person dances mystically, schoolgirls in rich cars play with large snakes, and a group of cybernetic females joy-ride an SUV dragging medieval swords along the desert. Am I dreaming? Yes, you're dreaming of Grimes.

Watch Genesis below.