Broods - Conscious


Broods
Conscious
2016
Spotify

The last album from Broods evergreen was a bit of a subtle take on electropop. It had some airy and pretty moments, but this record is much more focused in going straight for the jugular. From the opener "Free" you can tell that the siblings are not messing around with this one. It is dark yet dancey and has an infectious hook that you cannot for the life of you shake. Often that really infectious pop comes with a bubblegum stigma but Broods simply don't have that even if the music would beg to differ. It has only been a couple of years since Evergreen was released, but their sound has been refined so much from touring and finding out just what it is they want to be. There was probably a thought at the end of the Evergreen cycle that they could either go full pop or take a darker approach. Broods chose the latter and we are better for it because Conscious really does have a great rich sound. However there are times on the record where the band does take a turn for the darker aspects just to say that they did, which really doesn't work all that well, but those moments are the rarity not the norm. The Lorde co-written track "Heartlines" makes since because Georgia Nott does have a similar sounding voice and they both are from New Zealand, but the song ends up being a massive, swirling, building tidal wave of a track that uses those far away sounds to really bring you in deep.

The other collaboration is "Freak of Nature" featuring Tove Lo who cannot seem to make a misstep these days and she doesn't her either. Her sound just adds to what is already a really solid Broods track and elevates it to an entirely new level. What you get when you listen to this record is that this is exactly what they wanted to make, no pressure, just expression. You can hear the joy or the pain in the songs and connecting with them makes it all the better. Broods also never rely in nostalgia for their brand of electropop. They are perfectly content with the sound of today and that really does set them apart in a genre filled with people banking on nostalgia alone to get them through. There are moments however like on "Worth the Fight" and "Full Blown Love" where the boom bap soaring song does get a bit old and the voices aren't there to pull it trough like on "Freak of Nature". There is also a bit of an energy suck in the middle of the record making for some slow listening for awhile. However in the end Conscious is a really great electropop album from a group that could have rested on their success but decided instead to push the genre forward. Check out Conscious, it might just sneak up there with your new favorite albums.

8.0 out of 10 

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