Braids return with their fourth studio album "Shadow Offering"
Montreal-based indie art rock band Braids have just released their new album Shadow Offering on Secret City Records. Produced by Chris Walla of Death Cab For Cutie, the new album finds the band at their most personal, unabashedly flexing a new sense of confidence through songs that reach a higher level of artistry and collaboration.
Braids is comprised of Raphaelle Standell-Preston, Austin Tufts, and Taylor Smith. Formed in 2007 in Alberta, they have solidified a decade-long reputation for their musical ingenuity and established themselves as one of Canada's most acclaimed art rock bands, garnering two Polaris Prize shortlists and winning the 2016 Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year. With Standell-Preston's vocals as the pillar of their sound, Braids weave organic and electronic elements together amidst a lyrical landscape that is intimate, explosive, and emotionally-immersive. Their albums have earned praise from Pitchfork, NPR, New York Times, T Magazine, NME, and The Guardian among many others. They have supported or toured with artists such as Toro Y Moi, The Antlers, Wye Oak, Purity Ring, and Friendly Fires along with festival appearances around the world including Glastonbury, Primavera, Osheaga, Hopscotch, and SXSW.
“Shadow Offering” is the first full length release by Braids since their impressive 2015 release “Deep In The Iris”. With this latest release Braids break new ground musically, but their sound remains intense and dramatic and as good as ever, if not more so.
A luscious and expansive release, Shadow Offering leads us through a musical tapestry of narrative. With heartbreaking honesty and precision, listeners traverse a complicated world: one full of beautiful contradiction from heartbreak to joy. The album is incredibly personal dealing with emotions and subjects such as heartbreak and anger, but it also lifts the heart towards hope. As Standell-Preston says "I think the songs are more human, more tangible, more honest."
The vocals from Standell-Preston are impressive throughout this latest release and this is evident in the opening track Here 4 U as the vocals sound fresh and wrap around the music beautifully. It has the most wonderful bittersweet chorus: “I’m here for you, even if you don’t want me to be / I’m here for you, even if I had to leave.”
Young Buck is next up and recounts the experiences of an ill-fated relationship with a young man. This has one of the strongest melodies on the album and some excellent synth flourishes and strong effective use of arpeggiated electronic sequences.
Eclipse (Ashley) initially slows the pace with a fantastic piano melody running through it but builds as the song progresses. Once again the vocal performance is exceptional demonstrating a strong range. This is follows by Just Let Me a tale of distance between partners, of barriers in a failing relationship “where did our love go” describing the walls that build between people and how we cling on hoping to break down the walls, begging the other to “let me get through to you”. Beautifully atmospheric, the chorus almost All About Eve-like.
On Upheaval II we find Standell-Preston reflecting that: “I spend all my time chasing after guys that don’t love me. I spend all my time chasing after dreams that don’t suit me.” That lyrical candour and sense of empowerment is supported by a much heavier backing performance, a more forceful performance running through the track that is relentless. This is followed by Fear of Men, where Standell-Preston sings of overcoming the fears that hold her back.
The beautiful Snow Angel is next, with it’s punchy electronic drum rhythm underpinning the track so well. What I love about the whole album is the wonderful use of lyric design and the poetic use of language to describe emotions and situations such as: “I can’t do anything, but lie here for a moment, I am a snow angel, makes the bitterness feel romantic”. It has a political edge to it as Standell-Preston sings of injustice, and her own guilt as a white woman, which will resonate with many in these troubles times.
At the other end of the scale we have Oceans which is quiet and introspective, with it’s soft piano melodies and acoustic guitar. Finally we end with probably my favourite track Note to Self, a reminder to us all that we have to love ourselves most of all “walking down the street I felt such joy to be alive”. Wonderfully placed at the end of the album, for all the pain and emotion and guilt, it reminds us we have one life, and we should keep going “one foot in front of the other” striving to make the most of life. The song rising to a rousing crescendo at the end, before dropping away to silence. A real statement to end on.
A great album, a very strong and personal journey through the pains of life and love. Musically it is very good, with strong melodies beautiful use of string and piano, as well as upbeat percussion which creates a vibrant and varied soundscape, but the vocals from Standell-Preston are what make this album, delivering a powerful, and yet delicate performance which is incredibly emotional.
I get the sense that for all the heartbreak, pain and anger and it’s darker elements it is, at it’s source an album about hope, and joy in the human existence. An incredibly enjoyable release from Braids, for me, their best yet and worthy of a score of 9.0 from LiveWire Music.
