Listen: Braids – Amends

Recent signings of Montreal label Arbutus Records, Braids revealed a pointed change of direction this week with a new cut from their forthcoming 12″ called ‘Amends’.

Gone are the interloping guitar sequences and lissome basslines found on their debut LP – along with keyboardist Katie Lee, who departed during second album recording sessions – and in their place we find marshy synth loops and sparse percussion underpinned by Raphelle Standell-Preston’s buttery chirps.

Apparently a product of collective crushing on ambient acts like Max Cooper, Aphex Twin and Burial, ‘Amends’ is doubtless an accomplished piece of in-vogue electro . That said, the worry for fans wooed over by the more traditional shapes of Native Speaker is that Standell-Preston isn’t so much tip-toeing into the elongated experimental electronica of side-project Blue Hawaii as she is brazenly splicing the two together. With guitars featuring just once on the new album, only time will tell if this brave reinvention can pay dividends.

Due for release on 6 June, ‘Amends’ will be bundled with ‘In Kind’ (both will feature on their new LP) as well as exclusives ‘Near Enough’ and ‘A Dawn In Me’.