22 February 2016
Newsdesk
Sony/ATV Music Publishing has signed highly-acclaimed Canadian singer-songwriter Claire Boucher aka Grimes in the first deal through its new joint venture Rough Customer with Grammy-winning songwriter Jack Antonoff.
The worldwide agreement includes the songs on Grimes’ fourth studio album Art Angels, which she wrote and produced entirely herself and became her first Top 40 hit in the U.S. and U.K. following its release last November.
The deal also solidifies her working relationship with Grammy Song of the Year winner and Golden Globe nominee Jack Antonoff who has written with artists including Taylor Swift, Sara Bareilles and Christina Perri. Back in the spring Grimes collaborated with Antonoff’s band Bleachers on a song “Entropy” from the GIRLS soundtrack and this has now been followed by her becoming the first signing to his new Sony/ATV JV Rough Customer, which focuses primarily on growing his team of collaborators and partnering with artists.
Jack Antonoff said: “I wanted to start a publishing company to work with friends who are making important work. It really couldn't be more special to start things with Claire. She's one of my all-time favorite artists and a wonderful person. Her work matters on the highest level and I feel deeply proud to know her, have worked with her and now be involves here as well.”
Grimes, the multi-faceted creative project of Vancouver-born polymath Claire Boucher, has garnered a wealth of praise from critics and fans. From the hand-mailed cassette release of her first album Geidi Primes to the hi-fi techni-color sprawl of Art Angels, the project resists easy categorization and both confounds and delights her growing audience at every turn.
Her third record, Visions, was her first for celebrated indie label 4AD. Her first album to place on the U.S. and U.K. albums charts, Visions was nominated for Canada’s prestigious Polaris Music Prize and won the Juno award for Best Electronic Album in 2012.
After a summer 2015 tour supporting Lana Del Rey, 4AD released Grimes’ fourth album Art Angels in November. In addition to writing and producing the entirety of the album, Grimes also created the album’s artwork and directed a video for lead single “Flesh Without Blood”. The album reached the Canadian Top 20 and U.S. and U.K. Top 40 as well as topping Billboard’s Top Alternative Albums chart. Attaining a score of 89 on review aggregation site Metacritic, Art Angels has also dominated critics’ year-end lists, being named album of the year by the NME, Stereogum, and Gorilla Vs. Bear.
