Live In Studio: Braids

The members of Braids have been playing together since they were young — really young. In fact, founding members Raphaelle Standell-Preston and Austin Tufts first met as children hanging out in a sandbox. In high school they linked up with founding member Taylor Smith (they’re all founding members — it’s that kind of band) and made the official switch from schoolmates to band mates. The collaboration has yielded three albums of smart, lovingly-crafted music that marries poetic lyrics with infectious beats.

Hear Braids play live from their latest album.

Their freshman and sophomore albums were recorded in garages — boxes without windows, as Taylor Smith puts it. But to make their most recent release, Deep in the Iris, Braids hit the road, seeking out scenic locations in which to write and record their new songs. In Arizona, Standell-Preston took inspiration from the desert landscape: “I think it was the great expansiveness of it all, and how you could look out and your eyes could just follow for a very, very long time.” In Vermont, the band encountered a special piano, a 150-year-old Steinway that lent its distinctive sound to the album. And at every location, Smith says, they aimed to make a record with a sunnier, more expansive quality than their previous work.

Braids joined us live in the studio to share the results. They also shared the story of their high school prom, an evening of, as Tufts puts it, “so much fun and so much vomit.”

Bonus Track:”Taste” live in Studio 360

Bonus Track: “Miniskirt” live in Studio 360