Braids Release 'Lucky Star' Video

04-26-2023

Album art

(Missing Piece Group) Ahead of their anticipated new album Euphoric Recall releasing this Friday (via Secret City Records), art rock band Braids have dropped a new single called "Lucky Star." Unfolding slowly over ambient whirs and acoustic riffs, the track radiates an intimate melancholy with lyrics that project longingly across the chords like a slow-motion punk song.

"'Lucky Star' came together in pieces over a long span of time," said Raphaelle Standell-Preston. "Its inception began on a very cold winter night after having taken some months from writing...it's not the easiest to write music during Montreal's unforgiving winter. We sat down in our studio, with the space heater on high, and plugged the mic in and turned the speakers on. Taylor showed me a beautiful synth loop he had been working on, the lyrics and melody poured out of me quickly, it was one of those first take moments, as are most of the takes on Euphoric Recall. I put the mic down and asked Taylor to close the project, I didn't want to listen back. We packed up, satisfied that we had put something down on the page and walked through the snow back to our homes. When spring came we opened up the project again. The winter blues had come and gone, and Montreal was feeling electric with having survived another winter. 'Lucky Star' started in the dark and ended in the light. It reminds me of all the different moments we move through as individuals. Nothing is ever linear."

Braids have teased several songs from Euphoric Recall to date, including "Apple," a bubbling "shoegaze love song" (Consequence) and "Evolution," a clear eyed and calm banger that Brooklyn Vegan called "a quietly propulsive track whose dialed-in lyrics allow the electronics to shine." The album's first single "Retriever" is also out now, a luscious and meandering 9-minute journey that Stereogum raved "builds and glides over an expansive runtime," while Exclaim! stated "the song is a sleek, bubbling odyssey that incorporated delicate drum machines and waves of metallic guitar."

Braids also recently announced their first round of tour dates of 2023, a limited performance series that will feature a string ensemble accompaniment. It'll include several dates in Canada, London, and their first US shows in over four years with stops in Los Angeles and New York City.