4AD are to release the defining new album from Grimes, Visions, to the World outside Canada. Joining forces with Montreal’s Arbutus Records (a label and collective of which Grimes is a part of), Visions will be on the shelves in North America on February 21st to coincide with a tour there and will be released to the rest of the world on March 12th.

For those unaware, Grimes is the inventive work of Claire Boucher, a project that has gained notoriety since its inception back in early-2010. Moving to Montreal from Vancouver in 2006, she developed Grimes among the city’s burgeoning DIY scene; a scene where both punk ethos and pop music collide, resulting in a distinct sense of community, religiosity and psychedelic revelry. Also a prolific force, Visions will be her fourth release in less than two years and countless shows have been performed in this time, both helping to build much intrigue as to what’s next - “She's blossoming and developing almost more quickly than we can keep track of... (She) could very well be poised for a meteoric rise with the release of her next full length." (Pitchfork).

With her creative bent being both musical and visual, her second self embodies the arts of 2D, performance, dance, video and sound, weaving them all together to strong rhythmic effect. Subsequent records have sharpened her production skills and each one has tackled different influences and styles. This new set incorporates influences as wide as Enya, TLC and Aphex Twin, whilst drawing from genres like New Jack Swing, IDM, New Age, K-pop, Industrial and glitch resulting in a record that is both otherworldly and futuristic.

Claire describes her work as, “the only means through which I can be fully expressive. It is both an ethereal escape from, and a violent embrace of, my experience. The creative process is a quest for the ultimate sensual, mystical and cathartic experience and the vehicle for my psychic purging. Visions was conceived in a period of self-imposed cloistering during which time I did not see daylight.”

The album artwork and tracklisting were revealed late last year and can be found here. Today, the new track, ‘Genesis’, has been posted online and is available to download below.

Grimes is heading out on a North American tour in late-February (see below) and is scheduled to reach Europe in May (with shows at Primavera, London’s Field Day and Dublin’s Forbidden Fruit already announced).

February
18th - Fortune Sound Club, Vancouver, BC
19th - Lucky Bar, Victoria, BC
20th - Sunset Tavern, Seattle, WA
21st - Holocene, Portland, OR
22nd - Rickshaw Stop, San Francisco, CA
24th - Echo, Los Angeles, CA
25th - Soda Bar, San Diego, CA
27th - Rhythm Room, Phoenix, AZ
29th - Lamberts, Austin, TX

March
1st - Dan's Silverleaf, Denton, TX
2nd - LBC Quad (Tulane Univ), New Orleans, LA 
3rd - Cats Purring Dude Ranch, Oxford, MS
5th - Drunken Unicorn, Atlanta, GA
6th - The Orpheum, Tampa, FL
7th - Backbooth, Orlando, FL
8th - Bardot Miami, Miami, FL
9th - Savannah Stopover Festival, Savannah, GA
13th - 7th St Entry, Minneapolis, MN
14th - Empty Bottle, Chicago, IL
19th - Legendary Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto, ON
20th - Brillobox, Pittsburgh, PA
21st - Str8 Cavin, Baltimore, MD
22nd - Kung Fu Necktie, Philadelphia, PA
23rd - Mercury Lounge, New York, NY
24th - Glasslands, Brooklyn, NY
26th - Great Scott, Boston, MA
31st - Cabaret Mile End, Montreal, QB

May
31st - Primavera Festival, Barcelona, Spain

June
2nd - Field Day Festival, London, UK
3rd - Forbidden Fruit Festival, Dublin, Ireland