The band (along with former members Katie Lee and Vince Man[1]) met at a young age and began collaborating in high school.

[3] Standell-Preston recounted that it was a conversation over a blueberry muffin in the school's cafeteria that prompted the group's formation, under the name The Neighbourhood Council.

[4] Rehearsing in Smith's parents' garage, the band had early success backing lead vocalist Standell-Preston in a songwriting contest hosted by the Calgary Folk Music Festival.

[8] This performance at Sled Island and the Set Pieces EP garnered more extensive attention for the band, including a notable mention from the music blog Stereogum.

Tufts branded the original name as "pretty terrible" and felt the change reflected the band's "interwoven and interlaced" style.

With the structure of the group's music largely established, the band began to record and self-produce their debut album, Native Speaker, in July 2009.

[15] Native Speaker has received mostly positive reviews from critics, with the group's percussive sound likened to Feels-era Animal Collective and praised for its innovative melodies and Standell-Preston's "dynamic" vocals.

[16][17] Robert Everett-Green of The Globe and Mail gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, declaring that he could not stop listening to the record and comparing the importance of the group's debut to early Broken Social Scene and Arcade Fire.

The Polaris Music Prize is an award presented on an annual basis to the creators of a full-length Canadian album, based solely on artistic merit without regard to genre or records sales.

[34] Not wishing to rest creatively, the band began work on their third album in 2012 (in tandem with Flourish // Perish) and debuted a number of new songs live in September and October 2012.

[42][43] Mixing began in late September with Damian Taylor at Golden Ratio Studios in Montreal and headed into the final stages two months later.

[47] After the release of the album, the band toured for the remainder of the year across North America, Europe and for the first time Asia,[48] visiting Taiwan, Japan, China, Macau, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore.

[49] On April 26, 2016, Braids announced the May 20 release of Companion, an EP of four songs left unfinished during the writing process for Deep in the Iris and reworked during a recording session in Montreal in August 2015.