Raphaelle Standell-Preston (born February 1, 1990) is a Canadian musician and songwriter, currently the frontwoman of Braids and Blue Hawaii. She releases solo music under the name Indiensoci. Her vocal style has been described as slipping "from exquisite sweetness to Björk-like yelps".
Beginnings
Standell-Preston listened to Top 40 music while growing up and continues to love pop. She credited former Braids bandmate Katie Lee for introducing her to "music which is not on the radio". She played clarinet and trumpet in her school bands, before moving on to guitar. In 2012, she recalled her entry into music as having been brought about by switching "through a lot of different artistic endeavours. I wanted to be a painter, I wanted to be a dancer and I wanted to be an actor, then I just found music". Her first notable band was Calgary indie outfit Jane Vain and the Dark Matter, with whom she played in 2007.
Influences and themes
Standell-Preston has stated that the pop music she listened to as a teenager still influences her writing, in which she focuses on producing hooks, but without catchiness being central to her melodies. In 2013, she named Aphex Twin, Stephan Bodzin, Max Cooper, Pantha du Prince and Burial as influences. She has described her lyrics as "dirty" and "graphic" and also revealed that her struggle with depression influences her lyrics. She described her lyric-writing process as being "a lot of the time, I'll sing for 20 minutes, then I'll go back and review all the words that I said and I'll type them up. I'll find a pattern or a theme. I'll start paring things together and see the intent of what I was trying to have during that outburst". Standell-Preston cited labelmate Claire Boucher as an inspiration to her as a person, saying, "She is able to be really real, but then have this project that is so other-worldly and the two work really beautifully together. It's something I really look up to a lot when it comes to my personal image".
Braids
Beginnings and Native Speaker (2006–2011) Austin Tufts was the first future member of Braids who Standell-Preston met. The two met at a junior high school they were attending in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The pair moved on to Western Canada High School, where they met Lee, Taylor Smith and Vince Man. The five formed The Neighbourhood Council in 2006, during their final year of high school. Standell-Preston fronted the band as lead singer and guitarist, handling the "delivery and emotional content" of the music in addition to writing the lyrics. While putting off university, the band quickly picked up steam, intensively rehearsing, writing and performing at the Calgary Folk Music Festival and at Sled Island in 2007. They released their first EP, Set Pieces, in July 2008. After the release of the EP, and their rechristening as Braids, each member of the band was accepted into McGill University in Montreal, with Standell-Preston turning down the offer and remaining in Calgary. She later moved to Montreal to reunite with her bandmates. Of the musical atmosphere in Montreal, she said, "In Calgary it's really looked down upon if you don't have a normal job, a nice house and a normal car, but here you're considered a nobody if you give in to that". After signing to Arbutus Records, the band's debut album, Native Speaker, was released in January 2011, winning critical acclaim and Juno Award nominations for Best Alternative Album and Best New New Group. The album was also shortlisted for the 2011 Polaris Music Prize. In August 2013, Standell-Preston said, "With Native Speaker, everything besides the title track is so angry. I was so upset and felt like the world was really unfair".