Broods’ New Single Not “Free” Of Cliche

New Zealand’s moody electronic duo Broods come baring gifts! Free, the first single from their upcoming sophomore album, offers itself up as a pulsing present, eager to be avant-garde, but wrapped too excessively in pop production bubble wrap to be edgy.

The brother-sister music makers won four New Zealand music awards in 2015, including Album of the Year and Best Pop Album. They have a longstanding fandom from angst-Queen and fellow countrywoman Lorde and over 54 million streams worldwide of their 2014 breakout singles Bridges and Mother and Father.

But their highly-anticipated new single pales in comparison to these hits. Perhaps this is a product of the duo’s conscious effort to “mature”. Main vocalist Georgia Nott said Broods wants “to make great pop songs”, which possibly signals the band’s deliberate move away from “singing about love”.

“I wanted to talk about other things – things that people might really be going through, the kinds of things you face when it’s not just about being a kid anymore and having fun,” she said.

The single’s restrained, crunchily condensed production from long-time collaborator and Grammy award-winner Joel Little (Lorde, Sam Smith, Ellie Goulding) hardly challenges their signature ‘brooding’ electronic sound.

Similarly, the accompanying dystopian music video hardly ventures far from the kingdom of angst that is Broods’ natural habitat. But it matters little, because as the single declares, “I want your attention please, not your opinion”.