Consumes you like those lost hours spent locked away in a bedroom with a new lover.
It’s not just looks that can be deceiving; sounds can hoodwink, too. The debut album from Montreal-based four-piece BRAIDS is such a trompe l'oreille. First impressions are of delicate, hazy melodies brimming with purity; a childlike magic hovers amongst hypnotic loops and psychedelic sounds comparable to Gang Gang Dance or Animal Collective. But this ostensible innocence is not naivety, but rather of the butter-wouldn’t-melt variety.
Opening track Lemonade comes to life like a fresh, dewy morning complete with a bubbling brook in the background, all chirping top notes around a slow-dawning melody. But when Raphaelle Standell-Preston's vocals arrive the spell is broken, and suddenly the vignette of a spring dawn becomes a hot, sticky, promiscuous summer: "Have you f***ed all the stray kids yet?" This isn't the start of a new season; this is an awakening of visceral instinct.
Lees de rest van deze review op BBC CD recensies (Engels)
Bron: BBC Music