Braids (band)

Braids
Braids performing at SXSW in 2013
Background information
Origin	Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Genres	Indie rock Art rock Experimental rock Shoegaze Post-rock
Years active	2006-present
Labels	Flemish Eye (Canada) Kanine (United States) Full Time Hobby (UK) Arbutus Records (United States)
Associated acts	Blue Hawaii
Website	braidsmusic.com
Members	Raphaelle Standell-Preston Austin Tufts Taylor Smith
Past members	Katie Lee Vince Mann

Braids (usually stylized as BRAIDS) is an art rock band from Calgary, Alberta, currently based in Montreal, Quebec. Braids currently consists of Raphaelle Standell-Preston, Austin Tufts and Taylor Smith. The band (along with former members Katie Lee and Vince Mann^[1]) met at a young age and began collaborating in high school. Their debut album Native Speaker was released on January 18, 2011 in Canada and the United States to generally positive reviews. The album was shortlisted for the 2011 Polaris Music Prize.^[2] The band's second album, Flourish // Perish, was released on August 20, 2013.

History

2006–2008: Formation and Set Pieces

Braids grew out of friendships in Calgary, Alberta where the band members were students at Western Canada High School.^[3] Raphaelle Standell-Preston recounts that it was a conversation over a blueberry muffin in the school's cafeteria that prompted the group's formation.^[4] Rehearsing in Taylor Smith's parent's garage, the band had early success backing lead vocalist Standell-Preston in a songwriting contest hosted by the Calgary Folk Music Festival.^[5] Their success in this event led to an invitation to play at the inaugural Sled Island Music Festival. Following their performance at Sled Island, the band continued to collaborate and opted to postpone attending university to play music.

After a year of intensive rehearsal and the departure of Vince Mann,^[6] the band recorded their first EP, Set Pieces, at CJSW under the name The Neighbourhood Council. Following their EP debut, the band returned to Sled Island to play an opening set for Deerhunter. Their performance was highly regarded by the audience, who gave the group a standing ovation after Deerhunter's Bradford Cox rose from his seat at the end of the group's set and requested that the band play an encore.^[7] This performance at Sled Island and their Set Pieces gave the band a wider circle of attention, including a notable mention from the music blog Stereogum.^[8]

2008–2011: Relocation and Native Speaker

In September 2008, the band relocated to Montreal, Quebec where Lee, Smith and Tufts would attend classes at McGill University. In Montreal, the band rehearsed new material for an album and changed their name from the Neighbourhood Council to Braids. Tufts branded the original name as "pretty terrible" and felt the change reflected the band's "interwoven and interlaced" style.^[9] The band continued to develop material and their particular sound. Work from this period was debuted on a series of short tours, including a brief reunion with Deerhunter. With the structure of the group's music largely established, the band began to record and self-produce their debut album, Native Speaker, in July 2009.^[10] With only the drum tracks laid out for their debut album, the band embarked on their first major tour across Canada a month later.^[11]

Work resumed on Native Speaker when the group returned to Montreal in September 2009. The band completed recording the album during the winter of 2010. During this period, Braids was invited to play a set at Pop Montreal and recorded a video with Vincent Moon for a series on Montreal bands.^[4] Later in 2010, Braids toured in support of Holly Miranda in Canada and the United States.^[12][13] After negotiating with labels in the United States and Canada, Braids announced Chad Vangaalen's label Flemish Eye would distribute Native Speaker in Canada and Kanine Records would release the album in the United States, with the release date set for January 18, 2011.^[14]

Braids performing at the 2011 Hillside Festival

Native Speaker has received mostly praise from critics, with the group's percussive sound likened to Feels-era Animal Collective and remarkable for its innovative melodies and Standell-Preston's "dynamic" vocals.^[15][16] The Globe and Mail's Robert Everett-Green gave the album four out of four stars, declaring he could not stop listening to the record and compared the importance of the group's debut to early Broken Social Scene and Arcade Fire.^[17] The group also garnered positive reviews from The New York Times' Jon Pareles, remarking the music is as "mesmerizing and vertiginous as desire can be" while The Guardian's Paul Lester remarked the band's "experimental dream pop delivered through a shoegaze haze" warrants comparisons to "very important bands".^[18] Reviews from Spin Magazine, Pitchfork Media and Rolling Stone were also positive, with the publications rating the record 8/10 stars, 7.9/10 and 3.5/5 respectively.^[19][20][21]

On June 16, the album was named as a longlisted nominee (one of 40) for the 2011 Polaris Music Prize.^[2] On July 6, the album was named as a shortlisted (one of 10) nominee for the 2011 award. The Polaris Music Prize is an award presented on an annual basis to the creators of a full-length Canadian album - based solely on artistic merit without regard to genre or records sales. The album was nominated in two categories during the 2012 Juno Awards.

The band toured extensively in 2011 in support of Native Speaker, headlining their own shows in Canada, United States and Europe, in addition to supporting acts including Baths, Asobi Seksu, Toro y Moi, The Antlers, Wild Beasts, Girls and label mates Pepper Rabbit.

2012–present: Flourish // Perish

The band spent much of 2012 recording their second album in Montreal. Keyboardist Katie Lee departed the band at an unspecified point during the year, and the band has since moved forward as a three-piece.^[22] Braids opened up about the direction of their second album in May, hinting it would be electronic-based.^[23] The band embarked on their first tour as a three-piece in September, culminating in appearances at ATP I'll Be Your Mirror^[24] and CMJ^[25] in New York City. Braids released their first new music since Native Speaker in December 2012, collaborating with Max Cooper on the Conditions One EP. Mixing for the album was completed in January 2013,^[26] with the mastering handled by Harris Newman at Grey Market Mastering in February.^[27] The band went on their first tour of 2013 in March, playing across the Southern United States and finishing with a run of shows at South by Southwest. On May 28, the band announced the album title Flourish // Perish and the release date of August 20. The album was preceded by the In Kind // Amends EP^[28] and was followed by the Fruend single.^[29] Braids kicked off their Flourish // Perish tour with a round of European festival and club dates over the summer (including appearances at End Of The Road and Electric Picnic) and followed with an eight-date Canadian tour in September. Braids embarked on a month-long North American tour with Hundred Waters in October and returned to Europe for three weeks in November and December 2013. On December 8, the band tweeted that they had completed their touring for Flourish // Perish.^[30]

2012–present: Third studio album

Not wishing to rest creatively, the band began work on their upcoming third album over a year before Flourish // Perish was released^[31] and debuted a number of new songs live in September and October 2012. The band continued to play new songs on their Flourish // Perish tour in 2013. On January 13 2014, the band tweeted that they may record their third album in the desert, sooner than some might expect.^[32]

Discography

Studio albums

• 2011: Native Speaker (Flemish Eye/Kanine Records)
• 2013: Flourish // Perish (Arbutus Records/Full Time Hobby/Flemish Eye)

Singles

• 2011: Lemonade (Flemish Eye/Kanine Records)
• 2011: Plath Heart (Flemish Eye/Kanine Records)
• 2011: Peach Wedding (Flemish Eye/Kanine Records)
• 2013: Fruend (Arbutus Records/Full Time Hobby/Flemish Eye)

EPs

• 2008: Set Pieces
• 2008: Live At CJSW
• 2012: Conditions 1 with Max Cooper (Fields)
• 2013: In Kind/Amends (Arbutus Records/Full Time Hobby/Flemish Eye)

Split Singles

• 2010: Split 7" with Blue Hawaii (Arbutus Records)
• 2011: Split 7" with Hey Rosetta!
• 2011: Split 7" with Purity Ring (Fat Possum Records)

Videos

Band members

Current members

• Raphaelle Standell-Preston (guitar, keyboards, lead vocals) (2006–present)
• Austin Tufts (drums, vocals) (2006–present)
• Taylor Smith (bass, guitar, percussion, MalletKAT,^[33] vocals) (2006–present)

Former members

• Vince Mann (guitar) (2006–2007)
• Katie Lee (keyboards, vocals) (2006–2012)

References

Citations

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Braids.

• Braids Official website
• Braids at Flemish Eye
• Braids at Kanine Records