Braids - Shadow Offe rin g A n underrated band releasing an underrated fourth album, Braids has finally cemented their role as the vehicle of Raphaelle Standell-Preston. Her presence looms large over Shadow Offering , with the singer granting herself the maturity and confidence to dictate seemingly stream-of-consciousness lyrics in her own yelpy Bjork-like delivery. But Standell-Preston's voice works in different ways, finding a melodicism in every syllable of her performances (as only they can be described) and finally nailing the right balance of synth to rock for her band. ~8.5
a subjective look at objective sounds