Moments after stepping off stage, Georgia Nott, lead singer and one half of the sibling duo Broods, grabs her phone and checks Twitter. “Especially when we don’t have a chance to meet fans afterwards, to go and hear what they said, it’s a really awesome thing,” the 21-year-old New Zealander shares. “It’s been really great for us, especially when we’re on a support tour with someone like Ellie Goulding, that people go and find you on social media. It’s definitely worked in our favor in the way of gaining exposure.”
“All of the most important performances we’ve done over our entire lives have been together.”
Life is moving fast for Georgia and her brother Caleb, who seem to be gaining momentum daily. First entering the public eye with their debut EP, Bridges, in January 2014, which reached the Top Ten in their home country of New Zealand, the siblings built their fan base on the road and edged into global consciousness behind their first full-length album, Evergreen, a polished effort layered with textural synth pop, released in September of 2014. Recently, they’ve been selling out headlining tours and sharing stages with the likes of industry heavyweights Ellie Goulding, Haim, and Sam Smith.
Digital Trends caught up with Georgia as the Broods prepare to release their sophomore album, Conscious, later this year. We like where the duo is headed, and we think you’ll be hearing a whole lot more about them in the coming months.
Early days
Caleb and Georgia Nott grew up playing music together in New Zealand, discovering their love of performing at a young age. “We’ve never really known anything else,” Georgia confesses. “All of the most important performances we’ve done over our entire lives have been together.” Before they were Broods, they were a part of multiple bands and projects throughout their childhood and teen years. “The first time we ever performed together was at this talent show when we were kids. Caleb played guitar and I sang. Our parents encouraged us to do it, and made sure we sat down and practiced.”
The singer recalls one of their first performances together at a talent show when she and her brother were roughly 9 and 11, respectively. “We sang Big Yellow Taxi, the Amy Grant version,” she says. Music continued to play an important part of their lives, right up through their late teens, when they decided to take the plunge, drop out of college, and pursue making it full time. “I think that the hype that we received from [Evergreen] was what lead us to completely dropping Uni (University) and pursuing it. It’s been amazing that we got the opportunity to do that full-time. It’s a very rare thing these days that it’s actually a full-time position. Especially when we are very young,” the singer commented.
Flash forward to present day, and the risk has paid off with world tours and chart-climbing songs.
Friends like these
Few artists have the opportunity to work with Top 40 producers so early on in their career, but an inside connection gives Broods an advantage. Their producer, Joel Little, happens to be an old friend, and with him comes production credits including Lorde, Sam Smith, and Ellie Goulding.
The production/artist trio go back to when the Notts were in their teens, a time when the budding artists needed guidance and encouragement to cultivate their talents and what drives them.
“When you’re writing about your own experiences, you have to be really vulnerable and honest.”
“When you’re writing about your own experiences, you have to be really vulnerable and honest,” shares Georgia speaking to Broods’ collaboration with Little. “It’s nice when you have somebody who understands, appreciates, and is trustworthy. I think Joel understands us as writers and musicians, all of our goals and ambitions.”
Since the first album, multi-instrumentalist Caleb Nott has delved further into the production side of music, learning through experience and experimenting on tour. “You can do almost anything with just a laptop,” Georgia says. “Caleb would often be at the back of the bus after a show or while we’re traveling, writing a bunch and making demos. It helps him grow into [being] his own producer. I think a lot of his style comes through in this album.”
Sharing the love
Broods recently added co-writing to their list of musical credits, partnering with Australian artist and YouTuber, Troye Sivan, to co-write tracks for his debut album. Like many digital introductions among artists today, the three met via Twitter. “He asked us to come over and work on some music with him, and we were like ‘hell yeah!’ His music is awesome, and he’s such a creative guy and also one of the nicest human beings.”
The sibling duo partnered with Sivan on the song, Ease, for his debut album Blue Neighbourhood. “Ease was the first song we wrote with him,” Georgia disclosed, explaining the makeup of their writing partnership. “We only had a few days in the studio and all the other songs turned out really weird and messy. But we got some good out of it, and he put it on his album.”
Studio to stage
With all these changes, collaborations, and new touring opportunities, what can listeners expect from Broods’ forthcoming album?
“I think the main thing is that it’s heavier,” Georgia claims. “A lot more than the first one. I think the first album was a bit more minimal. Caleb especially really found himself as a producer as we got into writing this new album,” she explained.
With a well-received freshman effort under their belt, Georgia is more excited than ever before to perform the songs from their forthcoming album and explore the where they can really evolve: on stage. “We had live shows in mind a lot more when we were writing this album. We wanted to create all the tracks to be this amazing experience we could recreate live. I’m more excited about playing this new album than I have to play anything. It’s exciting to move on to this new project with this new record.”
