Braids

Braids at 529, October 2015

Montreal's Braids is one of my favorite bands.  After seeing them open for Purity Ring at the Buckhead Theater in May 2015, I wrote, "We weren't prepared for how great Braids were.  Front-woman Raphaelle Standell-Preston's vocals soared at times, startled at others, and had my complete attention throughout.   They have a new album, Deep In The Iris. out but even the outstanding cuts from the record don't match the immediacy and range of Raphaelle's live vocals.  By all means, if you have a chance to catch this band, do."

High praise indeed.  I was similarly impressed when they opened for Wye Oak at Terminal West in May 2014, the very first time I had either heard or seen them, and when they headlined at 529 in October 2015.  The show at the tiny 529 club was particularly memorable, as I was standing barely ten feet from Standell-Preston and her personality really lit up and filled the room.

After a 5-year gap, Braids are finally back with a new album, Shadow Offering, to be released April 24 and produced by Chris Walla of Death Cab for Cutie.  The band has released a new single, Young Buck, as well as an accompanying video.

In a statement, Standell-Preston spoke about the intention behind the track:

“We wrote this song to capture the nervous anticipation of desire, the delicate chase of seduction, the highs and lows of obsession, and the humor in between. To want to possess someone, make them desire you, fall for you, only to learn that to lust is not to love.”

The accompanying music video contains choreographed dances moves like so many pop music videos, as well as imaginative sequences and suggestive writhing, and many male and female bodies. At first, this felt like a departure for Braids, especially with Standell-Preston's new look.  But then we remembered the NSFW video they released for Deep In the Iris cut Taste, which featured naked bodies of all shapes, sizes, and ages, and the confrontational lyrics of their song Miniskirt.

Young Buck explores desire from the feminine viewpoint ("Young buck, 22 year old who treats me badly, The blaring example of what I am drawn towards and should strongly move away from") and the video inverts convention by objectifying male instead of female bodies.  This band has long explored the intersections of desire, feminism and sensuality - that's their turf - and Young Buck and its video are merely the latest expression of that exploration.

Jehnny Beth

Jehnny Beth crowd walking during Savages performance at Shaky Knees, 2016

Yesterday may have seen the release of a new single by Brooklyn's Sharon Van Etten, but it also saw the release of Flower, the debut single from France's Jehnny Beth, the ferocious front-woman of the band Savages.

Both Savages and Beth have been uncharacteristically quiet for a while - according to the NY Times, Beth has performed live only twice since July 2017, but Jehnny Beth's debut solo album, To Love Is To Live, will be released in May. 

Flower is a slow-burner of a song, a sensuous synth-rock composition with a singalong verse in the middle.  It's quite unlike the angular post-punk of Savages, and shows the range of Beth's abilities.  "If I feel like I want to do a punk record again," Beth said, "I’ll probably do it with Savages.”

In February, she will host a TV talk show called Echoes With Jehnny Beth for a European channel that will expand the idea of her Beats 1 radio program, Start Making Sense, by prompting conversations between musical guests. In June, she will release a book of erotic short stories that began as a poetry collection before she made the rare decision to heed a critic.

“(PJ) Harvey told me my poetry was awful,” she said and laughed. “I like doing things that are scary,” she added. “Once you take a step, in spite of your fear, you realize: This is not how I imagined it would be, but it’s exactly how I want it to be.”