Broods Talk “Bridges”, Being Less Depressed & Their Debut Album: Idolator Q&A

It only took one song for Broods to become the new darlings of blog land and land a US record deal. Such was the quality of gloomily beautiful electro-ballad “Bridges” and the sway of working with producer Joel Little (the man behind Lorde‘s Pure Heroine). Their self-titled EP confirmed that the New Zealand brother and sister were the real deal and they have been chipping away at their debut LP ever since.

I caught up with Caleb and Georgia before their show at The Echo on May 14 and politely probed them about the new “Bridges” video and the direction of their album. (It’s apparently a lot happier and more upbeat than their rather bleak EP). The siblings Nott also spoke about their creative process and the fact that they rarely get sick of each other. See what Broods have in store for you in 2014 after the jump.

How does if feel to be headlining a tour in the States? 

Georgia (G): It’s weird to think that… Caleb (C): …someone else is going to be playing before you. G: It’s a surreal thing to know that people on the other side of the world are into your music. But it’s been super awesome and we’ve had such great responses from every single city that we’ve been to. We’re just getting the hang of performing. We’re just learning as we go.

Do you feel the momentum building over here?

G: We’re definitely expanding our fan base as we go and doing live shows really helps with that because it means that we can meet our fans. They get to see us in the flesh performing songs. C: Every time I’ve gone to see a band you kind find new love for them. G: You just appreciate their musicianship.

Was the EP just a brief intro to your sound?

G: Totally. C: Yeah, for sure. We wrote that over about 6 months. We wrote it in dribs and drabs, like whenever we could get into the studio. When we had time off uni or work, it was just really very experimental for us. We only just started this project this time last year.

How many songs from the EP will actually be on your album?

C: A very minimal amount, maybe two songs from the EP on the whole album. It’s going to be pretty fresh but “Bridges” will probably be there. G: We don’t like living in the past. We want to keep moving forward and bringing out new ideas. C: It gives us a chance to widen and show off other parts of what we are about music wise.

Is the slightly morose sound of the EP indicative of the LP?

C: I think the last couple of songs that we wrote on the EP “Never Gonna Change” and “Coattails”, that’s a taste of what the album is going to be like. But it will be different to that even. It will still be us. It will still sound like us.

Different in which way?

G: Just like vibes. C: I think the EP was very emotive and quite dark as well. It just so happens the times we are going through right now aren’t very dark. Life’s pretty good and the songs reflect that mindset. G: We still want to get those slow, dark songs… C: Because that’s Georgia’s forte. G: My forte is being depressed.

It’s working out for you so far.

C: It works out for a lot of artists. Look at Adele. G: We had room to broaden the spectrum and be a little less depressing. C: I tend to write a little more upbeat because it’s what I like to listen to, so it’s a mixture of our two writings styles. The album is a lot more collaborative, where on the EP it was one of us writing a song and the other one helped.

Where does that darkness come from?

G: Music has just been, my whole life, an outlet for anything I’ve felt crappy about. C: From observing Georgia, she writes when she’s in that state of mind. G: It’s like a coping mechanism. Whenever I feel like crap, even if I just feel like slightly crap, I just dramatize it and make it into a really exaggerated version of what I’m feeling. Once I’ve written a song about how crap I feel, I will stop feeling crap. C: The album has just been about learning to write songs when we’re happy.

“Bridges” is the next single in the States?

C: There’s a new video coming because the other one was inappropriate.

Why, I like that video?

G: I think it’s because they had smoking and toy guns. C: We also need to show our faces. G: Yeah Americans like to see the band.

Why weren’t you in any of your videos?

C: We actually just had no time. G: It was that boring. C: And the directors were on the other side of the world. “Bridges” was shot in Denmark. G: Also creating a video and being in it is really scary.

Can you talk about the new video?

G: We shot it in LA. C: We shot it here a few weeks ago. G: It was pretty overwhelming. C: We turned the corner and there were massive trailers. The last time we did a video we just went in a shitty van. G: It was very, very professional.

Is it easier traveling with a sibling?

C: We actually flat together back home, so we live in the same house as well but we’re used to that. We lived together growing up. G: On tour you do get a little bit more tired though. We know when to leave each other alone. We find it pretty easy to take in stuff when you’ve got someone you’ve known your whole life right there.

Does it make it a little be easier to be away from home?

C: Yeah, of course. I’m pretty good at being away from home. G: I suck at it. I get so homesick.

What can we expect from the live shows?

G: We’re a little bit more animated. In all the photo shoots we all ways seem a little bit… C: … mad with the world. G: Or confused with it but in the live show I kind of go a little bit nuts. I don’t know where it came from but I’ve just started dancing like a total weirdo. C: I think it’s ever since you watched Asta live G: Yeah ever since I watched Asta live and saw how awesome she was at dancing, I thought maybe I should try dancing. C: It’s original, I’ll say that much.

Are you ready for a brighter, happier Broods? Let us know in the comments below.

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