Native SpeakerBraids

The latest band to canonize Animal Collective, Montreal’s Braids focus more on soundscaping than popcraft, but pull off startling moments of both. Their gossamer suites consistently threaten to arpeggiate away into thin air, but are kept just this side of the corporeal by Raphaelle Standelle-Preston’s fidgety songs about fucking. Opener “Lemonade” serves as an effective stand-in for all the tracks on Native Speaker: a watery trickle; a ship-in-the-harbor bass synth; two interweaving bli...

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