Shadow Offerings. Braids

It was not the kindest review I encountered in 'Oor', the magazine made by my more professional colleagues. It came down to "a waste of time". That is not something I read everyday, so I decided to take my chances and listen to Shadow Offerings. I have no comparison, because as far as I'm aware I have never heard previous music from the band.

First, who is Braids? It is a Canadian trio from Montreal, formed in Alberta in 2007. Singer Raphaella Standell-Preston, Austin Tuffs and Taylor Smith. Shadow Offerings is the band's 4th album and first since 2015. As the bio said the band took its time. The album was made together with Death Cab for Cutie's Chris Walla as co-producer.

What I hear in opening song 'Here 4 U' is Kate Bush. a singer with a high, a little witchy voice, like Kate excelled in in 1978 when she broke big with 'Wuthering Heights'. 'Here 4 U' does not have that quality. Otherwise you would have found howling at the moon for joy. it is a while since I heard a debut single by a female artist that had such an impact on me. Perhaps even not one.

'Young Buck', the second song, is different. More electronic, more pop oriented. A little alternative Miley Cyrus or Katy Perry song. The synths play nice melodies and long held chords. A song I had not expected 'Here 4 U' to be followed by. 'Eclipse Ashley' is though. The piano leads the beginning on. The atmosphere is mysterious again. Strong guitar chords sweep over the song like an unexpected gale. The song draws me back into the album easily. Singer Raphaella Standell-Preston really draws attention to herself here. But in the end she is the centre piece of Shadow Offerings.

The Kate Bush reference keeps presenting itself to me. This has not only to do with voice of Standell-Preston. For that the vocal melodies could have been Kate Bush's. There's a lot of 'Cloudbursting' and 'Running Up The Hill' inspired vocal melodies to be found here. The music is partly different. It has something mysterious but is also more solid in general. Braids is not afraid to play some electric guitar along the way and let a drum really sound out. There Braids creates it own sound.

Promo photo: Ariana Molly Jan

It is the mix that I have to say mostly like. When the tone of voice changes as well as in the double solid end of 'Upheaval ii', the song immediately blossoms. Between the songs the band varies in approach making the album richer in sound. Not that I like all the songs as much. I personally could do without 'Fear Of Men', it is different from what came before.

The next song is a nine minutes song. It means that it can make or break the album. 9 Minutes is a long, long time if the song isn't good. It starts mildly up tempo, tight. A bass synth takes care of the first variation. A guitar joins in playing a few notes over and over. The music comes more intense slowly but surely. Singer Raphaella Standell-Watson slowly but surely becomes more maniacal. She unravels by the second it seems. Until she's taken away to rest and returns somewhat more at ease. The music is back to a lower level as well. The 9.32 this way is over before I know it. My impression is that 'Snow Angel' makes the album.

With two more songs to go, Shadow Offerings can not go wrong any more. Having no comparison Shadow Offerings could not disappoint by comparison. The worst that could happen was me not liking the album. Rest assured that is not the case. In fact I have played the album fairly regularly over the past weeks and expect to return to it. I'm glad Braids put in the effort over the past years. Not spectacular, but Braids is in a different ballgame. This album is filled with nice atmospherics and mysterious songs that sound good to great.

There's a similarity between the new Soko album reviewed just now on the blog. Both albums were five years in the waiting. Both got a favourable review on this blog. (And as a P.S., both albums have a delayed release. Soko is on the blog but postponed until a later, unknown date. The reviews would have been a day apart.)

Wo.

You can listen to and buy Shadow Offerings here:

https://braidsmusic.bandcamp.com/album/shadow-offering


or listen to our Spotify Playlist to find out what we are writing about:

https://open.spotify.com/user/glazu53/playlist/6R9FgPd2btrMuMaIrYeCh6?si=KI6LzLaAS5K-wsez5oSO2g