Ryan's Braids Review

I had an awkward feeling while listening to this album. It felt like I'd heard it before. Which seemed unlikely, because I know I only got a copy of it a few days ago, when I started listening to it to review it for this blog, and as far as I could remember I hadn't heard it on the radio or any of the music podcasts I listen to. The feeling was definitely there, though, nagging at me every time I hit play, like a piece of unpopped popcorn that gets stuck in your teeth and you spend days trying to find a way to work it out from in there. Then, finally, it hit me: I hadn't heard the album before, but I have been listening to Polaris shortlisted albums for the past three years and this sounded an awful lot like a lot of them.

I think that if someone were to sit down and try to compose an album specifically to appeal to Polaris judges, they would end up with something not unlike Native Speaker by Braids. I'm not saying that Braids went into the studio consciously thinking that, but the result is uncanny. You've got the haunting, feminine lyrics that one could associate with Tegan and Sara or Kathleen Edwards, the atmospheric, detached feel of a Besnard Lakes or Timbre Timbre album, and the electronic influence of a Caribou or Weeknd. For all of those combinations, though, it didn't feel like there was really anything new here - the sum of those disparate parts was no greater than any of the pieces that it felt influenced by.

I'm sure this album has its supporters, but when stacking it up against the rest of the shortlisted albums (and even some that were overlooked by the Polaris community), I can't help but feel it falls far short of the rest of them.

Gary's Braids Review

Oh Braids, you poor things. A solid little album that suffers from being reviewed late in the process. I won’t deny that I’m suffering from a little reviewer exhaustion, but let’s be fair - this album did nothing to change that.

Native Speaker is a meandering, atmospheric album that talks a lot but never really gets to the point. With only 7 songs you might have assumed they would be adept at narrowing their focus. But when you see most songs run in the area of 7-8 minutes long, you start to understand why this album ends up being...well...boring.

Sure it’s beautiful and soaring and Raphaelle Standell-Preston’s voice is gorgeous. Hell, the music itself is inventive and ear catching - for 2 or 3 minutes. But if you haven’t said what you need to after 5 or 6 minutes, you’d better bring something pretty epic to the table.

I know what you’re thinking - who am I to dictate how long or short a song should be, and generally I don’t have a problem with long-form songs. But if you go back and check out the best musical tomes, they have a way of keeping things fresh and vibrant for the duration - something Braids just doesn't do.

Tracks like Same Mum and Plath Heart start out with the greatest of intentions and sound great, but then end up falling flat. Like a J.K. Rowling book this album would have benefited greatly from an editor (or more ruthless producer).

So yes I feel bad that Braids fell in the order where it did, but I doubt the review would have been all that different had it been slotted as the first or second album. And against meatier pieces from Arcade Fire and Hey! Rosetta, it frankly never stood a chance.

Bon Chance.