Darkbloom

* **Album**
* Critical Reception
* Physical Release

EP artwork

***Darkbloom*** is the first studio extended play, first collaboration and overall third album released by Grimes that was originally a split album with fellow Canadian musician d'Eon.

Grimes does not own the rights to *Darkbloom*, and as a result she does not make any money from the the EP in any form. In 2016 she gave "permission" to her fans to pirate the music, suggesting downloading the songs for free on Bandcamp.

## Background

Within a few months of meeting Grimes and d'Eon knew they wanted to work together on a project, initially envisioning a mixtape or an album of B-sides that "no one would ever hear," however their label was supportive and the pair decided to release it properly.

They had two sessions together where they collaborated, but after the second didn't go as well as the first they both decided to work on their half of the EP separately; as to not compromise each others sound.

Grimes directed the video for Vanessa herself after being unhappy with the video made for Crystal Ball.

### Inspiration

Grimes said this to *Pitchfork*:

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> ❝ I remember, like, chilling on the sidewalk, really appreciating the twilight of the city [Montréal], like, in the time I was making this - I don't know, this album feels really Montréal. ❞
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## Composition

When asked by *dummymag* how her approach changed, she answered:

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> ❝ I’ve been studying popstars…those songs, I feel are old though. I’ve moved far beyond that, in terms of like…me and my manager Seb went into the studio and then we mixed everything, and he basically taught me – everything is still bedroom, but we replaced a lot of the drums in the studio, put effects on the vocals. Seb made me…he was like, “we’re mixing the vocals high” and I was like [whispers] “no, I’m so scared…” but now I love it, I just had to get over that fear of hearing myself sing. ❞
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> ❝ There was a frustration to my other albums of me doing things because I had to. Now I can actually make the music that I have in my head. Like, “are you a musician?” You need to be able to stand up to that test, and my music is production, that’s almost everything about it. I want to make music that’s pleasurable, but not boring, and not at the expense of being experimental. ❞
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In 2020, on reflection, Grimes told *Pitchfork*: I think this album was me trying to make pop music, mostly.

### Writing

When asked if the songs were outtakes for *Halfaxa*. Grimes told *dummymag*:

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> ❝ Mine is post-**Halfaxa**, but…I don’t know what I did, why I wasn’t writing music. I’ve since written an album, since the split, but for some reason I had nothing for it. [..] A lot of mine [were written on] Christmas break, in Vancouver. ❞
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## Album Visuals

### Album Artwork

The artwork for this extended play is unique from her others as it features Grimes on it. The photoshoot was taken in her apartment by Sadaf Hakimian, inspired by an Alicia Keys cover "where it’s just her face." Grimes wanted to "bring back the pop star," and called the photos "almost distastefully high contrast." The cover features her and d'Eon being covered in "stuff from the dollar store", with hanging fabrics behind them; Grimes' face is painted in acrylic white, which is harmful to the skin. Grimes later said of this as being "having fun with friends kinda vibe."

d'Eon said of the album artwork:

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> ❝ Claire and Sadaf, who did the photos for the cover, are mostly responsible for the visual stuff, because I’m not really a visual artist and I don’t have that sort of eye. But I’m really glad we used that photo for the album cover. It’s weird, a lot of people in this sort of circle of music don’t really use their faces. ❞
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## Credits

Credits adapted from *Darkbloom* album liner notes.

* Grimes – vocals, producer (tracks: 1–5)
* d'Eon – vocals, producer (tracks: 6–9)
* Jasper Baydala – design
* Sebastian Cowan – additional mixing
* Sadaf Hakimian – photography
* Tyler Los-Jones – insert

## Trivia

* Grimes described the album's sound as "urban twilight Montréal" in her interview for Pitchfork, when asked to describe it in three words.
* If Grimes were to change anything about the songs, she said she would "finish them" as she believes most sound like 'sh\*t'.

## References

1. ↑ https://grimes-claireboucher.tumblr.com/post/137177684315/if-you-are-a-grimes-fanfanpage-please-reblog
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 https://web.archive.org/web/20120202045245/http://www.dummymag.com/features/2011/05/09/grimes-d-eon-interview/
3. ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/08/fashion/claire-boucher-known-as-grimes-mines-beauty-from-the-dark-side.html
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 https://youtu.be/umoqd0VbRI4?si=vggRFBdNuVrDl-9u&t=273
5. ↑ https://youtu.be/umoqd0VbRI4?t=303
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 https://youtu.be/umoqd0VbRI4?si=u9Tl5Ui1bL-ZN77n&t=285
7. ↑ https://www.discogs.com/release/3079489-Grimes-4-Deon-Darkbloom
8. ↑ https://youtu.be/umoqd0VbRI4?si=1lUE6yu0UswoBkjR&t=309