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Nov 21, 2013If Centipede Hz was a direct expletive to the status quo, then Flourish // Perish is the warm embrace that makes everything feel splendid.
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Aug 26, 2013Peaks and drops alike unveil a rich and full detail that becomes beautifully granular on subsequent listens without being obscure or academic.
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Aug 19, 2013Sometimes some things need to perish for others to flourish, and these songs show that Standell-Preston, Smith, and Tufts evolved into a group that can not just survive, but thrive in the face of hard times.
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Aug 19, 2013Occasionally subtlety spills over into insipidness, but overall this is a masterclass in restrained beauty.
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Aug 16, 2013A rewarding evolution for the band.
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Aug 16, 2013Despite the lineup change and the turmoil surrounding the trio, Flourish // Perish builds upon Braids equally striking debut without retreading old work.
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Aug 16, 2013Raph's lyrics, meanwhile, dig beneath melancholia and insecurity to unearth beauty in the small victories of self-discovery.
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Aug 15, 2013Flourish // Perish sounds like an extension of Standell-Preston’s other musical project, Blue Hawaii. In fact, many of the songs could be interchangeable with that project, but this isn’t a fault.
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Aug 14, 2013Flourish // Perish is a thoroughly rewarding listen.
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Aug 14, 2013It’s certainly a very different sort of album from Native Speaker, with far more emphasis on glitchy beats and ambient electronica than on their previous record, but after a few listens you can’t help but be impressed by the evolution on display.
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Aug 14, 2013It’s incredibly immersive, and at times it can be emotionally overwhelming.
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Aug 20, 2013The length of time it takes to unfold challenges waning attention spans, but by revealing Standell-Preston’s drawn fangs early, it turns the listeners into willing victims.
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Aug 16, 2013Flourish is a purposefully alien and repetitive album, and at the outset, it works.... But in the second half, the iterance becomes tedious; footholds are few amidst the long stretches of vast electronic tundra and the Perish side B can feel like a sheer drop towards revelatory closer “In Kind".
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Aug 22, 2013On Flourish // Perish, the Montreal trio takes a sharp turn inward.
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Aug 22, 2013The music might be prime kicking-back fare, but that doesn't mean Braids can't sneak some gentle urgency into the mix as well.
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Alternative PressAug 14, 2013[In Kind undermines the mood of the entire album with a series of acrobatic vocal yelps.] It's a shame, because otherwise this is a record of near-perfect beauty. [Sep 2013, p.88]
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Aug 14, 2013Braids perform with a self-assured subtlety, lending their sophomore album a quiet, unassuming depth that far outstrips the flash of its predecessor.
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