A funny thing happened on the way to Braids isolating themselves in their Montreal studio to work—with no outside involvement—on their fourth album. Chris Walla (Death Cab For Cutie, Decemberists, Nada Surf, Tegan And Sara) rented space there for a different project, so the trio decided to let him into their circle of trust to co-produce and engineer Shadow Offering (Secret City). The result is Braids’ best LP yet, a dynamic art-pop album that’s as musically intrepid as it is lyrically intimate. As Raphaelle Standell-Preston sings on lead single “Eclipse,” “There’s so many layers.”
