SPILL NEWS: BRAIDS ANNOUNCE CANADIAN TOUR DATES | NEW LP ‘EUPHORIC RECALL’ OUT THIS MONTH

BRAIDS ANNOUNCE CANADIAN TOUR DATES

NEW LP EUPHORIC RECALL OUT THIS MONTH VIA SECRET CITY RECORDS

Experimental indie pop three-piece Braids, announce a tour for May / June 2023 with dates across North America, including stops in Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal. Known for their decade-long history of emotionally charged and cathartic live shows, Braids will present their upcoming album, Euphoric Recall, out April 28, 2023 on Secret City Records), with this series of special performances featuring string ensemble accompaniment and immersive visuals.

“This upcoming concert series will be our most ambitious live shows yet, as we are joined on stage by string ensembles and immersive live visuals,: says the band. “Our new album ‘Euphoric Recall’ sees us writing and arranging for strings for the very first time. As the album took shape we knew that we wanted to have the lush, cinematic textures of a real string ensemble. We set out teaching ourselves how to compose for strings – in the room all 3 of us throwing melodic and textural ideas back and forth – a real creative sandbox approach. Having the arrangements come to life in the studio was an absolute highlight for us and as we heard the songs elevated to new levels, we knew that we had to present a version of the live show with the full ensemble. These 6 shows, in some of our favourite music cities will be the very first taste of that, and the first time we’ve ever played live with expanded orchestration. .We have also been working with installation /digital media artist Nima Navab on creating immersive AI generated visuals to accompany our album. We’ve been sharing this over the past couple months online and its been fun to see people as intrigued by the uncanny visuals as we are. These immersive and sometimes overwhelming videos will even further elevate the shows into the most wholistic presentation of our musical world.Over the past 10 years we have been lucky enough to play over 500 concerts all around the world, so we see this performance series as an exciting new journey for us. These will certainly be shows not to miss.We look forward to seeing you out there!”

Tickets for the North American tour dates are on sale from tomorrow, April 7, via www.braidsmusic.com/tour and the full tour routing is below.

Braids’ current single, “Apple,” is among the most joyous moments in the Braids discography. A bubbling anthem of symphonic shoegaze, it’s a celebration of seeing new possibilities in the eyes of a lover, acknowledging past loss with a new state of heart that’s been opened and filled. Singer Raphaelle Standell-Preston sings of sweet sentiment on that is mirrored in the bursting instrumentation recorded live off the floor. Percussionist Austin Tufts marches and taps with feel-good intent evoking early Animal Collective while Taylor Smith’s arpeggiated synth sequence plays aggressively off the softer sonics for a heightened, sparkling shoegaze effect.

On “Apple” we see the band writing and arranging for a string ensemble for the very first time. Swells of orchestral energy bursting at the seams, carrying the listener through the overwhelming maelstrom of love that Raphaelle recounts on this open-hearted track. “We didn’t have to work hard on this one,” they stated. “We could just jump in and enjoy the ride of it.”

“Apple” followed the release of “Evolution,” a clear eyed and calm track that Brooklyn Vegan called “a quietly propulsive track whose dialed-in lyrics allow the electronics to shine.” It was also featured on Spotify’s Chill Vibes and All New Indie playlists among others, as well as Sirius XM’s Chill, XMU Download 15, The Verge, and KCRW’s 5 Songs To Hear This Week. The album’s first single “Retriever” is also out now, a luscious and meandering 9-minute journey that Stereogum raved “builds and glides over an expansive runtime,” while Exclaim! stated “the song is a sleek, bubbling odyssey that incorporates delicate drum machines and waves of metallic guitar.”

A freer and wholly anew effort, Euphoric Recall finds the trio abandoning strategy, burning it down, and realizing their love record. Love, all of it; the unbound bliss, the budding impulses, and the messy imperfections, a supernova swirled up in a suite of bold, melodic, symphonic pop songs surrendered to the present. The complexity of love and healing is not a new subject for Braids, but the vantage from which they see and sense it here is. Standell-Preston’s lyrics draw generously from her heart space, often writing on the spot, in just a few takes. Lines are vivid, exhilarating, and evocative, a directness indicative of fully knowing oneself and engaging the moment. As songs emerged, the rhythms and textures became brighter and looser, brimming with life.

Written, recorded, self-produced, and mixed at their Montréal studio, the music of Euphoric Recall is both unrushed and urgent, lush yet captured with in-the-room clarity. Elements weave in and out, shading a rich universe without crowding it. Tufts brought a sharpened ear to sessions after producing records for Devon Welsh, Tess Roby, and others, sensing what songs needed from his drums, be it subtle balance or cathartic, jazz-inflected fills. Smith arrived from the depths of solo experiments and studio work, an ever-thorough multi-instrumentalist and sound designer with a renewed feel for fun and a move-forward mindset. Along with the album’s thematic sensuality, Standell-Preston carried the pulse of her club-minded project, Blue Hawaii, adding to their shared desire for new material to groove more viscerally. Together they also arranged strings, with contributions and notations from Edwin De Goeij (who also plays the piano on several tracks).

Braids have regenerated their creative selves with every record. The Montréal trio moves intuitively, harnessing an emotional honesty and meticulous craft rooted in a willingness to let go and trust in one another; they immerse fully into the space of a full-length album. This devotion to exploring their art, together, has made for one of the more daring and fluid catalogues in contemporary experimental pop over the past decade. They see their story as a series of actions and reactions, a collective expression that swings like a pendulum between open-hearted freeness and process-driven precision.

More About Braids

Formed in 2007 in Alberta, Braids have solidified a decade-long reputation for their musical ingenuity and established themselves as one of Canada’s most acclaimed art rock bands, garnering two Polaris Music Prize shortlists and winning the 2016 JUNO Award for Alternative Album of the Year. With Standell-Preston’s vocals as the pillar of their sound, Braids weave organic and electronic elements together amidst a lyrical landscape that is intimate, explosive, and emotionally-immersive. They have supported or toured with artists such as Future Islands, Toro Y Moi, The Antlers, Wye Oak, Purity Ring, and Friendly Fires along with festival appearances around the world including Glastonbury, Primavera, Osheaga, Hopscotch, and SXSW. Across four full-length studio releases, their music has earned widespread critical acclaim from Pitchfork, The New York Times, The Fader, Consequence, Stereogum, Exclaim!, The Line of Best Fit, Uncut, and Clash Magazine among many others.

Tour Dates

May 27 – Los Angeles, CA @ Knitting Factory NoHo
May 30 – Toronto, ON @ Paradise Theatre
June 1 – Ottawa, ON @ Club SAW
June 2 – Montreal, QC @ Society for Arts & Technology
June 4 – New York City, NY @ Racket
June 10 – London, UK @ Kings Place Hall One

Artist Links

Background Photo Credit: Mélissa Gamache

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