Braids (formerly stylized as BRAIDS) is a Canadian

art rock Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that generally reflects a challenging or avant-garde approach to rock, or which makes use of modernist, experimental, or unconventional elements. Art rock aspires to elevate rock from entertainment to an art ...

band originating from

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

and based in

Montréal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-p ...

Québec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...

for most of their career. Braids currently consists of

Raphaelle Standell-Preston Raphaelle Standell-Preston (born February 1, 1990) is a Canadian musician and songwriter, currently the frontwoman of Braids and Blue Hawaii. She releases solo music under the name Indiensoci. Her vocal style has been described as slipping "from ...

, Austin Tufts and Taylor Smith. The band (along with former members Katie Lee and Vince Man) 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 The 2011 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on September 19, 2011

."2011 Polaris Music Prize Long List announced"
. aux.tv, June 16, 2011. The band's second album, '' Flourish // Perish'', was released on August 20, 2013. Their third, ''

Deep in the Iris ''Deep in the Iris'' is the third studio album by Canadian experimental pop/ art rock band Braids. It was released by Arbutus Records worldwide, excluding Canada where it was released by Flemish Eye, on 28 April 2015. It has been described as the ...

'', was released on April 28, 2015, and was awarded the 2015

Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year The Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year is presented annually at Canada's Juno Awards to honour the best album of the year in the alternative rock and/or indie rock genres. The award was first presented in 1995 under the name Best Alternati ...

History

2006–2008: Formation and ''Set Pieces''

Braids grew out of friendships in Calgary, where the band members were students at Western Canada High School. Standell-Preston recounted that it was a conversation over a blueberry muffin in the school's cafeteria that prompted the group's formation, under the name The Neighbourhood Council. Rehearsing in Smith's parents' garage, the band had early success backing lead vocalist Standell-Preston in a songwriting contest hosted by the Calgary Folk Music Festival. This led to an invitation to play at the inaugural

Sled Island Music Festival The Sled Island Music & Arts Festival is an annual independent music and arts festival formed in 2007 and held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Each June, the five-day festival showcases over 200 bands, visual artists, filmmakers and comedians as w ...

in 2007. 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 Man, the band recorded their first EP, ''

Set Pieces "Set Pieces" is the first EP release by Canadian indie band Braids. The EP was released in 2008 under the band's original name, The Neighbourhood Council. Recording The EP was recorded at CJSW in Calgary, Canada Calgary ( ) is the larges ...

'', at

CJSW CJSW-FM is a campus radio station, broadcasting at 90.9 FM, from the University of Calgary, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. CJSW is a member of the National Campus and Community Radio Association and the University of Calgary Tri-Media Alliance i ...

in April 2008. Following the EP's release in July 2008, the band returned to Sled Island to play an opening set for

Deerhunter Deerhunter is an American indie rock band from Atlanta, Georgia, formed in 2001. The band currently consists of Bradford Cox (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Moses Archuleta (drums, electronics, sound treatments), Lotus Plaza, Lockett Pundt (guitar, ...

. 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 An encore is an additional performance given by performers after the planned show has ended, usually in response to extended applause from the audience.Lalange Cochrane, in ''Oxford Companion to Music'', Alison Latham, ed., Oxford University Pres ...

. This performance at Sled Island and the ''Set Pieces'' EP garnered more extensive attention for the band, including a notable mention from the music blog

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several award ...

2008–2011: Relocation and ''Native Speaker''

In September 2008, the band relocated to Montreal, where Lee, Smith and Tufts attended classes at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

. In Montreal, the band rehearsed new material for an album and changed their name from The Neighbourhood Council to Braids (the EP was reissued under the Braids name). Tufts branded the original name as "pretty terrible" and felt the change reflected the band's "interwoven and interlaced" style. 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. With only the drum tracks laid out for the album, the band embarked on their first major tour across Canada a month later. 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 Vincent Moon (real name Mathieu Saura, born 25 August 1979) is an independent filmmaker, photographer, and sound artist from Paris. He was the main director of the Blogotheque's Take Away Shows, a web-based project recording field work music vide ...

for a series on Montreal bands. Later in 2010, Braids toured in support of Holly Miranda in Canada and the United States. After negotiating with labels in the United States and Canada, Braids announced Chad Vangaalen's label

Flemish Eye The eye splice is a method of creating a permanent loop (an " eye") in the end of a rope by means of rope splicing. The Flemish eye is a type of circular loop at the end of a thread. There are several techniques of creating the eye with its k ...

would distribute ''Native Speaker'' in Canada and

Kanine Records Kanine Records is an independent record label based in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York started at the end of 2002 by Lio and Kay Kanine. Their first release, ''NY: The Next Wave'', was a 20 track compilation featuring mostly unsigne ...

would release the album in the United States, with the release date set for January 18, 2011. Braids at Hillside 2011

''Native Speaker'' has received mostly positive reviews from critics, with the group's percussive sound likened to ''Feels''-era

Animal Collective Animal Collective is an American experimental pop band formed in Baltimore, Maryland. Its members consist of Avey Tare (David Portner), Panda Bear (Noah Lennox), Geologist (Brian Weitz), and Deakin (Josh Dibb). The band's work is characterized ...

and praised for its innovative melodies and Standell-Preston's "dynamic" vocals. Robert Everett-Green of ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'' gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, declaring that he could not stop listening to the record and comparing the importance of the group's debut to early Broken Social Scene and

Arcade Fire Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury and Jeremy Gara. The band's current touring line-up also includes former core member S ...

. The group also garnered positive reviews from Jon Pareles of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' who said that the music is as "mesmerizing and vertiginous as desire can be", while Paul Lester remarked in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' that the band's "experimental dream pop delivered through a shoegaze haze" warrants comparisons to "very important bands". Reviews from ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

'', ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' and Pitchfork were also positive, with the publications rating the record 8 out of 10, 7.9 out of 10 and 3.5 out of 5 stars, respectively. On June 16, the album was named as a longlisted nominee (one of 40) for the 2011

Polaris Music Prize The Polaris Music Prize is a music award annually given to the best full-length Canadian album based on artistic merit, regardless of genre, sales, or record label. The award was established in 2006 with a $20,000 cash prize; the prize was incr ...

. 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 Juno Awards of 2012 honoured Canadian music industry achievements in the latter part of 2010 and in most of 2011. The awards were presented in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada during the weekend of 31 March and 1 April 2012. A week of related events b ...

. The band toured extensively in 2011 in support of ''Native Speaker'', headlining their own shows in Canada, the 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.

2012–2013: ''Flourish // Perish''

The band spent much of 2012 recording their second album in Montreal. Keyboardist Lee departed the band at an unspecified point during the year and the band later moved forward as a three-piece. Braids discussed the direction of their second album in May, hinting it would be electronic-based. The band embarked on their first tour as a trio in September, culminating in appearances at ATP I'll Be Your Mirror and

CMJ CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Braids released their first new music since ''Native Speaker'' in December 2012, collaborating with

Max Cooper Max Cooper may refer to: * Max Cooper (electronica musician) (born 1980), European electronica and techno musician * Max Dale Cooper Max Dale Cooper (born August 31, 1933, in Hazlehurst, Mississippi), ForMemRS, is an American immunologist and Pr ...

on the ''Conditions One'' EP. Mixing for the album was completed in January 2013, with the mastering handled by

Harris Newman Harris Newman is a mastering engineer working out of Grey Market Mastering in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. His studio shares a building with the Hotel2Tango recording studio, as well as Constellation Records. Newman has mastered hundreds of album ...

at Grey Market Mastering in February. The band went on their first tour of 2013 in March, playing across the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

and finishing with a run of shows at

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

. On May 28, 2013, the band announced the album's title, ''Flourish // Perish'', and a release date of August 20. The album was preceded by the ''In Kind // Amends'' EP and was followed by the "Fruend" single. 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 Hundred Waters is an American band formed in Gainesville, Florida in October 2011, composed of Nicole Miglis (vocals, piano, flute), Trayer Tryon (production, electronics, bass) and Zach Tetreault (drums, percussion, trumpet). The group came to p ...

in October and returned to Europe for the final leg of the tour in November and December 2013. The band encountered problems playing the album's tracks live, noting, "It was written on the computer, rather than through playing. Some of them just wouldn't fly live – we couldn't sculpt the energy properly". Braids released a video for album outtake "Deep Running" on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

in April 2014.

2012–present: ''Deep in the Iris'' and ''Companion''

Not wishing to rest creatively, the band began work on their third album in 2012 (in tandem with ''Flourish // Perish'') 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 were considering recording their third album in the desert and the trio subsequently headed to

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

for a recording session in late March. In May, the band took a break from recording to undertake a North American tour in support of

Wye Oak The Wye Oak was the largest white oak tree in the United States and the State Tree of Maryland from 1941 until its demise in 2002. Wye Oak State Park preserves the site where the revered tree stood for more than 400 years in the town of Wye M ...

. Braids reconvened for a second recording session in a farmhouse near Delhi, New York in early June, wrapping on July 1. The band decamped to rural

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

for the final recording sessions in late July. Mixing began in late September with Damian Taylor at Golden Ratio Studios in Montreal and headed into the final stages two months later. On February 10, 2015, Braids announced the album title as ''Deep in the Iris'', with a release date of April 28, 2015. After the release of the album, the band toured for the remainder of the year across North America, Europe and for the first time

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

, visiting

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

and

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. On April 26, 2016, Braids announced the May 20 release of ''Companion'', an EP of four songs left unfinished during the writing process for ''Deep in the Iris'' and reworked during a recording session in Montreal in August 2015. A North American and European tour was also announced, running from May to July 2016.

Discography

Studio albums

*2011: '' Native Speaker'' (

) *2013: '' Flourish // Perish'' (

Arbutus Records Arbutus Records is a Montreal based record label and Artist Management, management company founded by Sebastian Cowan in 2009. The label is named after the street by the same name in Vancouver, where Cowan grew up. The label have also begun expand ...

Full Time Hobby Full Time Hobby is an independent record label formed in London in January 2004. Since its inception it has released records by artists such as Dana Gavanski, Timber Timbre, Tunng, Micah P. Hinson, Michael Nau, Katie Von Schleicher and Whit ...

/Flemish Eye) *2015: ''

'' (Arbutus Records/Flemish Eye) *2020: '' Shadow Offering'' (Braids Musique Inc./Secret City Records Inc.)

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) *2015: "Miniskirt" (Arbutus Records/Full Time Hobby/Flemish Eye) *2018: "Collarbones / Burdock & Dandelion" (Braids Musique Inc.) *2019: "Eclipse (Ashley)" (Braids Musique Inc./Secret City Records Inc.) *2020: "Young Buck" (Braids Musique Inc./Secret City Records Inc.) *2020: "Snow Angel" (Braids Musique Inc./Secret City Records Inc.)

EPs

*2008: ''

'' as The Neighbourhood Council *2008: ''Live at CJSW'' *2012: ''Conditions 1'' with

(Fields) *2013: ''In Kind/Amends'' (Arbutus Records/Full Time Hobby/Flemish Eye) *2016: ''Companion'' (Arbutus Records/Full Time Hobby/Flemish Eye)

Split singles

*2010: Split 7" with

Blue Hawaii ''Blue Hawaii'' is a 1961 American musical romantic comedy-drama film directed by Norman Taurog and starring Elvis Presley. The screenplay by Hal Kanter was nominated by the Writers Guild of America in 1962 in the category of Best Written Americ ...

(Arbutus Records) *2011: Split 7" with

Hey Rosetta! Hey Rosetta! is a Canadian seven-piece indie rock band from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador and led by singer/songwriter Tim Baker. Known for their energized live shows, the band created a large, layered sound by incorporating piano, viol ...

*2011: Split 7" with

Purity Ring Purity rings (also known as promise rings, abstinence rings, or chastity rings) are rings worn as a sign of chastity. Since the 1990s, in the United States, Christian organizations, especially Catholic and evangelical Christian groups, promoting ...

( Fat Possum Records)

Other

* 2014: "Deep Running" (released for free via YouTube)

Videos

Band members

; Current *

(guitar, keyboards, lead vocals) (2006–present) *Austin Tufts (drums, vocals) (2006–present) *Taylor Smith (bass, guitar, percussion, malletkat, vocals) (2006–present) ; Former *Vince Man (guitar) (2006–2007) *Katie Lee (keyboards, vocals) (2006–2012)

References

External links

*
Braids
at

Braids
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Braids Musical groups established in 2006 Musical groups from Calgary Canadian indie rock groups Canadian experimental musical groups 2006 establishments in Alberta Canadian electronic music groups Canadian indie pop groups Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year winners Arbutus Records artists