Braids – Snow Angel (Music Video)
As we continue to live through historical moments of change, the growing frustrations and anxieties can be challenging to articulate and comprehend. Even with the ongoing pandemic, there are other external struggles and problems needing attention that seem to have fallen to the wayside. Environmental, socio-economical, racism and class struggles…the list goes on. It can be overwhelming as individuals to maneuverer the internal conflict as we try to balance the globe.
And if there is one track this year that embodies the invasive sensation of global concern, Montreal art-pop trio Braids have hit the mark with their latest single “Snow Angel”, a 9 minute opus that slowly presses down on the gas pedal as the world shifts.
Even though “Snow Angel” was written surrounding the 2016 US Election, the single still sits well in 2020. Frontwoman Raphaelle Standell-Preston explains:
“‘Snow Angel’ was written in the immediate wake of the 2016 US election, as our collective conscience took a sharp inhale. It’s a diary entry of sorts – a snapshot of the mind grappling with our era’s endless barrage of content and destruction, continents away and close to home. *This* moment, with our world in the midst of a pandemic, is admittedly a new context. But I can’t help but sense the song speaks to feelings many of us are experiencing – uncertainty, angst and a desperate desire to make sense of it all“.
“For me, it was deeply therapeutic to write and sing this song; saying things out loud can help us to not feel so alone, can help validate our natural fears about the future of our world, and can bring to light some of the hard questions that many of us are asking ourselves. I believe that art can change our relationship to fear. We hope this song can offer you a moment of catharsis and relief, in the same way writing and performing it has for us.”
From the opening lyric “I think I killed my plant from overwatering it”, the song continues to build, as if inching through struggles and anxiety, touching on loneliness, failed romance, and uncontrollable doubt. The droning sythn and wallowing guitar parts creates a captivating sense of dread. Gradually, Standell-Preston eventually boils over into a poignant spoken-word interlude, touching on the conflict of trying to be a good person and falling victim to societal habits that have unnoticeable negative effects on the world. Her voice is hauntingly beautiful as she laments her frustrations with breath-taking honesty:
“It’s a feeling where I wonder if everything is going to be okay / And when I say ‘everything’ I’m not talking about my little everything, my little life / I mean the planet, I mean the oceans, people fighting for their right to a safe life / The polar bears floating away on a brink of ice / What have we done to them?”
It doesn’t stop there for her. Her list grows and grows, as the song builds and builds with trance-like intensity under a glitchy basement florescent light. It becomes a dizzying cocoon of sound, textures, and Standell-Preston’s alluring voice on one of their most compelling singles to date.
Get lost in the music video for “Snow Angel” below. Braids have postponed their upcoming Shadow Offering LP release to June 19th. Visit their website to pre-order and to stay updated on an upcoming tour.
