Third album by Montreal’s Braids in less than four years.
With lots of changes within the band with Katie Lee saying au revoir back in 2012.
Deep In The Iris is both a departure on the electronic side that was dominant in Flourish // Perish and the return to instrumentation that was on their debut Native Speaker.
Braids is one of those acts that I would love to interview but with their popularity of a “hip” band, they rather be interviewed by Pitchfork, Stereogum and Exclaim!
But mostly it is their music that says about themselves.
While the word “feminist” has been tossed around in recent years and been getting a positive and negative reaction.
So is Deep In The Iris a feminist album?
Hard to say if you have listened carefully to their lead single “Miniskirt”.
With lines like “I’m not a man hater, I enjoy them like cake. But in my position, I’m the slut, I’m the bitch, I’m the whore, The one you hate“.
Maybe it’s not really feministic to say, more of a “I’m reclaiming my body and myself of dignity”.
This album still feels like a Blue Hawaii album with it’s uptempo electro-pop dance sound but lyrically it’s very dark and revealing.
While Miniskirt is a very gutsy track to listen to, there are others like Warm Like Summer that has Raph channeling Fiona Apple if she went electro-pop.
Other highlights are Blondie which has that synth D&B vibe to it.
Overall Deep In The Iris is a challenging yet personal and vunerable album that the band has made.
Best tracks:
- Taste
- Blondie
- Happy When
- Miniskirt
- Bunny Rose
- Warm Like Summer
I’d give Deep In The Iris a 8/10.
