You Can Be My Wave

While not a perfect album, Braids' 2011 debut was a revelation. The band's follow up in 2013 titled Flourish/Perish was, from my memory, quite boring. That deep disappointment has led me to skip over their last two records; I didn't think I would be missing out. Now we're ten years removed from Flourish/Perish, so I figured, maybe we should catch up. Well... the band's fifth album Euphoric Recall has me reconsidering why I skipped over those two records because it's fantastic. It reminds me very much of Björk's Homogenic with its marriage of ambient IDM and dramatic strings. I can also draw parallels to the free flowing, majestic, and narrative driven songwriting that can be found in her recent works. Putting their own spin on this combination of sounds, the material here winds up being quite meditative, sweeping, and all consuming. I've caught myself on numerous occasions gently swaying along to the soundscapes, losing myself in the music, and that's how you know you've got something special.

This album kicks off with the lengthy slow burn Supernova. The track's first phase lulls you with gentle acoustic guitars, warm and fuzzy synths that swell in and out, and sub-aquatic glitchy electronics. The track later evolves as cinematic strings make their entrance along with a slow, propelling drum beat, and more powerful vocal performances from Raphaelle Standell-Preston. I especially love when she matches the violin melody with her impressively high whistle. It's a stunningly beautiful track that straddles the line between something that feels traditional and something out of this world. The following track, Apple, feels like a living, breathing entity. It doesn't really deviate from its main idea, but it is incredibly dynamic in the way it adds and subtracts various elements from the equation and/or adjusts the volume to create spirited peaks and reflective valleys.

Evolution is a bit of a change of pace as it begins with a fairly regimented, yet danceable groove. It initially sounds pretty close to the Talking Heads' classic track Once In a Lifetime if the percussion happened to be a little more synthetic and the swirling pads in the background were pitched down. If one were to passively listen to this track, one would think it was just a loop with how unwavering the timing is, however on closer inspection, there are many very subtle variations in both the fills that end particular phrases, as well as within the foundational pattern itself. It is just one of the ways this track does such an amazing job of holding your attention. Another facet of this track that I find compelling is how the band incorporates all of these dancing synth layers throughout the track, but when it comes to the verses, everything abruptly cuts off (except for the drum beat and these weighty synth chords), in order to give Standell-Preston the space to express her emotions. These moments feel deeply personal and intimate, especially considering that her timid vocals are mixed really dry. This is a pretty stark contrast to the rest of the synth elements which feel quite spacious when they take centre stage. This track really has everything going for it: smartly produced, has a comforting air, repetitive in a familiar, meditative sense, and also has a great deal of sonic variation to make it interesting.

Millennia is pure transcendental art pop that owes so much to the work of Björk. Icy, celestial synth timbres collide with sweeping, downcast strings as Standell-Preston's performances soar powerfully overtop. There's not much more I can say really except that this track is perhaps the most emotionally potent song of the collection. Fast-forwarding to the end, we have Retriever which at nine and a half minutes, is an even slower burn than the album's opener. The first phase of this track introduces a spellbinding synth melody that sort of aimlessly meanders. Synth pads slowly fade in and both synthetic and natural sounding percussion patiently guides the track without causing too much of a disturbance. Around the five minute mark the song shifts into a different mode, a similarly spellbinding synth melody with a more jagged texture and more mysterious origins. For the following nine minutes, this melody cycles endlessly. It is all encompassing. You are mesmerized, and completely captured. Things start to feel like a time warp as lyrical motifs that span the record disorientingly sail by. It's a total trip.

There isn't much I don't like about the record. Really, the only song I didn't particularly care for was Lucky Star. I like the ambient background that sounds like it came right off of William Basinski's Disintegration Loops. Although, I think this track features some of the weakest, and most plain vocals on the record. I'm guessing the aim was to be dreary and passionless, but for me, it didn't really translate. While on the topic of vocals, the only other thing I hoped for was perhaps hearing Standell-Preston be her eccentric self on a more frequent basis. It is one of the things I love most about Native Speaker. She can scream, put on all sorts of crazy inflections, and can perform some pretty crazy vocal acrobatics across her expansive range. While this record certainly has a few vocal moments like that, I don't think it is quite on the same level as their debut. Mind you, this is a pretty nit-picky criticism as I do find the vocals generally to be impressive, even without the tricks.

Euphoric Recall is a really impressive art pop record. It's difficult to craft an album that is world building, but I believe this is one of those records that successfully pulled it off. The ambient and meditative soundscapes provide soothing relief to the chaos of the outside world and the beautiful string arrangements elevate it to majestic and grand proportions. This album is truly an escape that I will likely rely upon many times throughout the year, and potentially beyond. I'm thrilled I was able to connect with new Braids music and now it is imperative that I go back and catch-up on what I missed. So if you'll excuse me...