There's always been a therapeutic quality to
Braids
' soul-searching dream pop, from the vulnerable sensuality of
Native Speaker
to
Flourish//Perish
's frosty meditations on grief and loss. On
Deep in the Iris
, the trio reconciles both approaches, working through the aftermath of a crisis with a focus on healing. "Friends, lovers and enemies â?¦ I forgive them, I hope they forgive me"
Raphaelle Standell-Preston
sings on "Letting Go," and throughout the album, emotions are almost as tangible as the people feeling them. This is most obvious on "Miniskirt," a stream-of-consciousness history of sexual violence where
Preston
traces her feelings of violation and objectification back to her mother's domestic abuse, with a throaty abandon that recalls a vengeful
Liz Fraser
, but it also lends catharsis to
' quieter moments. The way "Happy When"'s emotional tenor changes as gradually and dramatically as a late afternoon turning to twilight recalls the way
Bjoerk
(another of
' influences) used
Vulnicura
's wide-format songs to follow complicated feelings all the way through to their half-lives. Even a shorter song like "Getting Tired" contains a wealth of emotions despite its brevity. Less electronic than
, the album's warmer, more organic sound complements these shifts beautifully, whether the band balances them with gymnastic beats on "Blondie" or lets their heat anchor tracks like "Taste," a shimmering realization of falling back in love that is one of
' finest songs yet.
honors emotional states that aren't easy to express -- musically or otherwise -- and brings a clarity to them that make it some of the band's most empathetic music. ~ Heather Phares