Frame & Canvas is the third studio album by American rock band Braid. It was released on April 7, 1998, through Polyvinyl Record Co. After the release of the band's second studio album, The Age of Octeen (1996), drummer Damon Atkinson replaced Roy Ewing due to him being unable to commit to touring. Recording sessions took place at Inner Ear Studios in December 1997, with J. Robbins helping with production during the sessions. The album is an emo and post-hardcore release, for which the lyrics were co-written by vocalist/guitarists Chris Broach and Bob Nanna, or solely wrote by Nanna.

Preceded by a European tour with the Get Up Kids, Frame & Canvas was promoted by Braid with tours across the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan with Compound Red, Discount, and Burning Airlines. It had sold over 16,000 copies by July 2004. The album has appeared on best-of lists for the emo genre by multiple publications, such as Kerrang!, NME, and Rolling Stone. Braid performed the album in its entirety during a 2012 US tour.

Background and production

Following the release of their second studio album The Age of Octeen in 1996, Braid played shows in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Missouri in September and October. Between November 1996 and January 1997, the band toured the south and west coasts of the United States. Following a handful of shows in February 1997, drummer Roy Ewing left Braid the following month. Atkinson had previously filled in for Ewing when he was unable to book time off work for a tour. Atkinson had been a fan of the band and Ewing's drumming; when he came to practice, they felt he was the perfect replacement. Braid continued to tour throughout 1997; playing with the Get Up Kids, Tomorrow, and Compound Red, among others. The members used to skateboard with Polyvinyl's co-founder Matt Lunsford before they became a band; he and fellow co-founder Darcie Knight organized the band's first-ever show in 1993. According to Nanna, Atkinson brought a sense of groove to the track that made it markedly different from their previous material and, for that reason, the song was almost scrapped. Following on from this, Braid traveled across the US with Rainer Maria in October of that year. The day Nanna graduated from college, Braid traveled to Washington, D.C., to record their next album. Robbins served as the engineer for Frame & Canvas and also mixed the recordings. All of the music was written by Braid; Nanna wrote lyrics for seven of the tracks, and co-wrote the other five with Broach. The song features Broach and Nanna discussing job prospects with their parents. "Never Will Come for Us" includes references to Braid being an underground act that did not get airplay, and playing shows at friends' house parties.

"Milwaukee Sky Rocket" was initially titled "Sky Rocket", until Atkinson—who was from Milwaukee—joined the band. They went on a cross-country tour throughout the following month with Kind of Like Spitting, before embarking on a Japanese tour with Eversor in May 1999. It was later revealed that Broach wanted to return to school and had little interest in the band by this point. Aside from performing at a friend's wedding, the band played their last few shows in August 1999, including a hometown performance, Ewing performed on a few songs at the band's last show. Footage from Braid's last five days as a band was included in their documentary film Killing a Camera (2001). Polyvinyl reissued the album in 2003; they explained that they had signed a pressing and distribution deal with Southern in 1998, which had expired in 2003.

Reception and legacy

AllMusic reviewer Blake Butler noted that Braid came up with "very technical pop melodies" on Frame & Canvas, accompanied by frequent time signature changes. He liked the "beautiful interlocking" guitar lines, which he wrote were "fused together with yelled/sung boyish vocals" from Broach and Nanna. In the opinion of Blake, the album cemented itself as one of Braid's best works. Blake even went as far as to say that by the end of the first track "you know you will be humming these melodies in your head for at least the next few days". The staff at Impact Press called Frame & Canvas "incredible", adding that the song arrangements are "untraditional and right on, their vocals are well-sung". Punk Planet Mike Barron said it was full of "genuine, heartfelt, and complex songs", highlighting "The New Nathan Detroits", "Milwaukee Sky Rocket", and "Urbana's Took Dark" as examples of Braid performing melodic music "really goddamn well". Andrew Chadwick of Ink 19 considered the songs "more straightforward than on Age of Octeen," while the band's "penchant for constantly changing structures remains intact, and their knack for amazing melodies and memorable songwriting seems to have grown". Glenn McDonald, in his online music review column The War Against Silence, compared the band to their idols Fugazi, asserting, "Braid are what I wanted Fugazi to become. (...) Fugazi showed how the world could be reduced to a set of sharp angles, every compound shape abstracted to the smallest possible number of lines, but after a while I got tired of dramas staged with just lines. [With Frame and Canvas] Braid points out that if you relax the rules a little, and allow the lines to be bent, you can draw surprisingly recognizable characters without needing very many more of them."

As of July 2004, Frame & Canvas has sold over 16,000 copies worldwide. It has appeared on various best-of emo album lists, being named to lists by Consequence of Sound, Kerrang!, LA Weekly, NME, and Rolling Stone. Similarly, "A Dozen Roses" appeared on a best-of emo songs list by Vulture. OC Weekly said the album established Polyvinyl and pushed the band as an important figure in the emo scene. Frame & Canvas was an important snapshot of second-wave emo and the contemporary Champaign, Illinois indie rock scene. Nanna ranked it as his second favorite Braid album, saying: "You can hear the fact that we really needed to nail it and you can tell we’re nervous but excited and really pressed for time. But I’m still happy with the way it sounds."

Track listing

All music by Braid. All songs produced by J. Robbins and Braid.

Braid

  • Damon Atkinsondrums
  • Todd Bellbass
  • Chris Broachvocals, guitar
  • Bob Nannavocals, guitar

Additional musicians

  • J. Robbinsextra percussion <small>(tracks 5 and 11)</small>

Production

  • J. Robbinsengineer, mixing, producer
  • Braidproducer
  • Andy Muellerdesign, photography

References

Citations

Sources

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  • Frame & Canvas at YouTube (streamed copy where licensed)