''Halfaxa'' is the second studio album by Canadian

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroa ...

artist

Grimes Claire Elise Boucher (; born March 17, 1988), known professionally as Grimes, is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Her early work has been described as extending from "lo-fi R&B" to futuristic dance-pop, and has i ...

. It was released in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

on October 5, 2010, by Arbutus Records, and in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and mainland Europe in May 2011 by

Lo Recordings Lo Recordings is a label founded in 1995 by Jon Tye. They are noted for their strong visual style thanks to Non-Format, with whom they work very closely and won a D&AD award for several of their releases sleeves. Musical style Lo recordings m ...

Background

While making this album,

Claire Boucher Claire Elise Boucher (; born March 17, 1988), known professionally as Grimes, is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Her early work has been described as extending from "lo-fi R&B" to futuristic dance-pop, and has in ...

was making tons of music and most of the times the music reflected the opposite of how she felt. The album is mostly inspired by her time in

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348 ...

while staying at her friend's home.

Composition

''Halfaxa'' has been described as a

goth-pop Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie an ...

, witch house,

dark wave Dark wave (also typeset as darkwave) is a music genre that emerged from the new wave and post-punk movement of the late 1970s. Dark wave compositions are largely based on minor key tonality and introspective lyrics and have been perceived as be ...

, and

glo-fi Psychedelic music (sometimes called psychedelia) is a wide range of popular music styles and genres influenced by 1960s psychedelia, a subculture of people who used psychedelic drugs such as LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, mescaline, and cannabis ...

release, as well as featuring influences of

glitch pop Glitch is a genre of electronic music that emerged in the 1990s. It is distinguished by the deliberate use of glitch-based audio media and other sonic artifacts. The glitching sounds featured in glitch tracks usually come from audio recording de ...

, R&B,

techno Techno is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally music production, produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central Drum beat, rhythm is typ ...

industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

, and electro. Grimes has said ''Halfaxa'' was created to "evoke the feeling of believing in

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

in a very

Medieval Christian Christianity in the Middle Ages covers the history of Christianity from the fall of the Western Roman Empire (). The end of the period is variously defined. Depending on the context, events such as the fall of Constantinople, conquest of Const ...

way", and has described it as her "

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

" album.

Track listing

Notes * On the

version, the tracks: 1, 2, 4, 6 are stylised in lowercase and 9, 10 are stylised as "Dreamfortress" and "world♡princess." * On some digital releases, "∆∆∆∆Rasik∆∆∆∆" is simply titled "rasik".

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Halfaxa''. * Grimes – vocals, production, composition, illustrations * Jasper Baydala – design * Sebastian Cowan – mastering * Antony Ryan – mastering

Release history

References

External links

*
Halfaxa
' at Arbutus Records 2010 albums Grimes albums Arbutus Records albums Witch house (genre) albums Dark wave albums Psychedelic music albums by Canadian artists {{2010s-electronic-album-stub