Its follow up, Flourish//Perish, released fresh on the departure of their keyboardist, was a far more subdued affair, dwelling mostly in ambient electronica. It was beautiful, but not as pixie-devilish as anticipations demanded.
And so their third record, Deep in the Iris was released to almost no fanfare. As a BRAIDS fan, I only stumbled upon it by accident (and ignored it for a few months). Which is a shame, because with a hype machine behind it, this record could have been a huge hit.
For example, listen to the third track “Blondie,” whose structure is built on a wash of swelling keyboard chords paired with starting and stopping breakbeats. Anti-slutshaming anthem “Miniskirt” starts as a low piano led ballad before the drums and synths turn it into a dance track.
Given that they’ve always done both sides of their sound well, it’s good to see them here expertly combining them to create some truly engaging songs.