Broods - Conscious

Yesterday afternoon my copy of Broods Conscious arrived in the mail and I had every intention of posting about it but life happens. So, getting excited for it today, I decided to find out when they'll be in town next and they play The Metro next Monday, August 8th. I thought about picking up tickets but wanted to see if anyone else was available to go. The local radio station, 101WKQX, had other intentions as they called later to inform me I had won tickets to the show. So, after you're pumped from the album review, pick up some tickets (I'll see you there) and then be on the lookout for a post following the show!

Broods is electronic / pop / indie brother-sister duo comprised of vocalist Georgia Nott and multi-instrumentalist Caleb Nott. Broods is based out of New Zealand and Conscious is their second album, the first being Evergreen. I was first exposed to them at 101WKQX PIQNIQ earlier this year.

After hearing them at PIQNIQ, I decided to purchase the album as it wasn't available at the event (I did, however, get an autograph). There were various options in the Broods Store but I wanted vinyl and a t-shirt so that made the autographed bundle my choice, despite already having an autograph (conveniently, the signatures matched). The album outer jacket is a fairly simple design, as is the shirt, but that's fine with me. The album itself fits on one clear vinyl that comes in an inner sleeve feature Georgia and the lyrics on one side and Caleb with some thanks on the other. So, without further delay, let's get the album on the turntable and give it a listen.




Side A
1. Free
2. We Had Everything
3. Are You Home
4. Heartlines
5. Hold the Line
6. Freak of Nature (feat. Tove Lo)
7. All of your Glory

Side B
8. Recovery
9. Couldn't Believe
10. Full Blown Love
11. Worth the Fight
12. Bedroom Door
13. Conscious


Side A

Talk about starting strong right out of the gates. The album opens with pure vocals that are strong and full. Free has a lot of attitude and drives the listener into a power groove. Phenomenal song on it's own. As the second song comes in, things back off a little bit, taking the attitude off or free. Interestingly, this is where I first heard the backing vocals and they total make things whenever I listened for them. They provide a subtle undertone during the chorus. Are You home keeps the upbeat feel of We Had Everything but gets a little bit darker. The key is that we've started to flatten into a given pace. Which is when Heartlines comes on and it's chorus is infectious. It has great balance and flow to it (Side note - Heartlines was co written with Lorde). From Heartlines, Hold the Line kept the tone, but, to be honest, nothing particularly stood out to me about this song. I actually had to go back and do the second listen to refresh my memory. That is a downside to having 7 songs on one side is that the listener is processing a lot of songs all at once. Now Freak of Nature (feat. Tove Lo) begins to slow things down but it's a song built around a foundation of solid vocals. Although I'm sure there's music playing in the background, I was stuck in a trance of just listening to the voice carry the entire song forward. Rounding out Side A is All of your Glory. A slower that eases into the flip. Overall, the first 4 songs of Side A are a must listen. The Side A bonus is Freak of Nature with it's stunning vocals.

Side B
Things pick up again with Recovery which I got the vibe would be a good song to hear live. Not necessarily sing along with, but has a good vibe to dance with. You know how there's always a hidden gem on the B side? For me, that song was Couldn't Believe. It's high energy and fun and reminded me a great deal of CHVRCHES (there's some bias here as I'm really digging CHVRCHES at the moment). But it's a really good song that brought me right back into the album. Full Blown Love had to follow Couldn't Believe and I think it was a great follow up be only bringing the tempo down slightly and having a solid synth part driving the chorus. An interesting change from using the strong lead vocals to make things happen. The next song, Worth the Fight, is the song I play to give the audience a chance to slow down without getting bored. It still has a driving rhythm at a reasonable pace and once again the backing vocals shine through and caused me to want to listen close to hear them again. A great way to keep engaged without requiring too much energy. Things slow down more into Bedroom Door which had this weird pseudo french horn part to open and close the song. The big thing here was the harmonies / echoes with the vocals. Was that needed with how strong the vocals have been? No. But it did give me the chance to hear them in a different form which added depth and range to vocal skill set. The title track closed out the album and I feel like it did a decent job anchoring things. It feels like a spoken word piece until it ends up toeing the line of dubstep. I kept waiting for the "wubs" to kick in, but likely, the song managed to get close without crossing over and keeping things tasteful. Another style development that keeps me interested for what they'll do in the future.

Overall Conscious is a really solid album. You're getting at least 6-7 songs that are worth listening to multiple times. From an album structure standpoint, not great, but not bad. With a few slower songs and upbeat numbers on the same album, it's tough to transition back and forth but you also don't want all the same things next to each other as it mutes the differences. I think the big thing for me is that I could listen to either side of the record and be okay with what I got. Playing both sides? Well, I might put in the effort to skip things on the A side and queue things up on the B side.

Thanks for giving the read and hopefully if you like what I've said, you'll check out the album for yourself and be waiting for future posts. Be sure to checkout the 45s section of the blog where I review singles from artists who have reached out to me on Twitter.