Braids – “Collarbones” & “Burdock & Dandelion”
Thankfully, the excellent Canadian trio Braids never go too long between releases. Their most recent full-length was 2015’s Deep In The Iris, and they followed it up the next year with the equally great Companion EP. The band is about to embark on a short East Coast tour over the next week, and they’re releasing two new songs to mark the occasion, with the promise of more music to come later this year.
Both new songs, “Collarbones” and “Burdock & Dandelion,” share themes of societal expectation, channeled through the group’s characteristically skittering and lush production. The former builds in waves, its central phrase repeated by Raphaelle Standell: “Breasts pushed up/ I’m trying to show you/ I have collar bones and cleavage you can rest in,” she sings, becoming more and more impassioned in a sort of dignified desperation. The song matches her fervor, expanding and contracting with every exasperated breath.
“Burdock & Dandelion” is more narrative in structure, Standell starting lost in the aisles of a drug store, looking for that special product that will fix all insecurities: “I heard I could fix my pain with a box hair dye/ The red highlight kind/ And my pain is I’m getting older/ And I try not to mind/ And I try not to mind.” She’s searching, hoping to find someone that will make that primping and prepping more about self-satisfaction than any weight placed on her: “Oh gods, I want to feel so beautiful in my skin / And oh gods, I want to find someone to celebrate my state with,” she sings.
Here’s a statement the band shared:
— Braids (@braidsmusic) May 2, 2018
Listen to both tracks below.
TOUR DATES:
05/03 Montreal, QC @ La Sala Rossa
05/04 Winooski, VT @ Waking Windows
05/06 Cambridge, MA @ Middle East
05/08 Washington, DC @ Songbyrd
05/09 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
05/11 New York, NY @ Elsewhere – Zone One
05/12 Annandale-on-Hudson @ Smog
“Collarbones” and “Burdock & Dandelion” are out now.
