CMJ Report: Braids

Dan Raby

Braids, a quartet from Montreal, are experts at the slow build up. At the small show at Arlene‰’s Grocery I stood entranced, a cup of poutine, in my hand, as they began to draw out their sounds. At first you could only hear the quiet bubbles and murmurs of a melody, then a bright guitar would be introduced into the mix, finally Raphaelle Standell-Preston (what a name huh?)‰’s voice cut through all the quiet simplicity and shook us all in the crowd out of our ambient haze. It put a powerful edge to their songs ‰ÛÒ one that worked well with the pristine melodies the other members of the band were skillfully creating. While the poutine was great (and really when is it not?) the real treat was in Braids shining mesh of instrumental beauty and blunt-yet-fitting vocals.

Here‰’s the song “Lemonade‰” with which they began their set. What do you all think?