The Potency and Raw Emotion in BRÅVES' "Lovely Bones"

Sometimes, anonymity and minimalism can prove to be beneficial within musicianship. Sometimes, it can ultimately make the music even better – there is an attached feeling of mystique and appeal that could almost feel addicting. Sometimes, music – and musicians, for that matter – deserve to be refreshingly ambiguous. Sometimes, there is a band that wholly thrives on these ideals. Meet: BRÅVES.

BRÅVES, an LA-based trio, essentially thrive on this obscurity, remaining – almost – faceless and seldom (if ever) performing live. BRÅVES have become synonymous with enticing curiosity, but they don’t seem to mind one bit. Their music echoes their image, offering particularly spellbinding sounds that put their listeners in a trance. The group’s most recent single, “Lovely Bones,” clearly expresses this.

Listen: “Lovely Bones” – BRÅVES

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BRÅVES’ “Lovely Bones” is ardently hypnotic, an ambient, magnetizing synth dream that alluringly captures the feeling of yearning for the unattainable. It is an impassioned plea for the thing we all so desperately seek: devotion, emotion, and companionship. “Lovely Bones” is a wistful sonic dream, transporting its listener to another transformative, experiential plane. The potency of the track’s falsetto can be felt to the core.

Sonically, the song is inherently multi-layered. Persistent beats reverberate beneath desperate vocals, making the track feel all the more compelling. “Lovely Bones” is an intoxicating blend of impressive musicality and raw emotion, definitively illustrating the emptiness of a love gone cold. It epitomizes a sentiment to which anyone in a soured relationship can relate: the one whom you thought cared the most, has ultimately pushed you furthest away.

“Suck me dry when I’m your alibi;
Feels so cold when you hold me close…”

The incessant feeling of distress elicited throughout the four-minute track is resounding, and the indifference of the foregone relationship is tangible. “Lovely Bones” fervently pleads for something, anything; a desire for responsiveness is expressly obvious. BRÅVES typify the raw intimacy of love – and the lack thereof – and all that comes with it. There is something to be said about the group’s ability to tap into the deepest crevices of personal emotion, and poignantly encapsulate the inherent universality of humanity.

Moreover, the track’s accompanying video is a starkly stunning visual that features a performance by twelve-year-old athletes training for the pole dancing world championships. It is supposedly intended to shine light on the viewer’s own mind; their personal projection, perception and preservation of the female image is at stake. Will they be inevitably sexualized, or can they be championed as the impressive athletes they truly are?

Our love is so obscene

“Lovely Bones” and its supplementary visual are provocative pieces of art that force their audiences to be considerate, vulnerable observers, and to carefully acknowledge their innermost thoughts and feelings. The spectator and the spectacle are working together in unadulterated harmony. BRÅVES successfully manage to captivate their spectators, and in turn make a spectacle of themselves. For more on BRÅVES, listen to their sophomore EP ii on Bandcamp and discover our feature on their song “Dust.”

Watch: “Lovely Bones” – BRÅVES

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