On The Map

Broods are very quickly becoming one of the most celebrated young bands to emerge out of New Zealand. At only 19 years of age, Nott is still trying to come to terms with it all.

“We have spent the whole day basically wandering around Chicago, and now we’re at the airport about to head to Vancouver. It feels crazy to say it!… When you travel so much you’re exposed to a lot of different things that you wouldn’t be exposed to back home, like going to uni and partying every weekend. I think the more you travel, the less you understand about what’s going on, but it brings things into perspective and it makes you a more aware and open-minded person. I really like that because even though it stresses you out when you have no idea what’s happening, it’s still really nice to know that you are thinking about those things and that you’re aware of other cultures. It’s a pretty important thing that a lot of people don’t put as a priority.”

 

"It was a bit of a kick up the arse to make us work a bit harder."

The duo’s debut album, Evergreen, cracked the top 5 in the ARIA charts earlier this year and was produced by Joel Little – the same guy who produced Lorde’s Grammy-winning record, Pure Heroine. Despite the comparisons in sound and geography, Nott and her brother think it’s a huge compliment and a testament to where they’re heading. She talks it all down, though, “There were people telling us we’d be the next Lorde, and we thought it was really cool because, like, it’d be awesome, but I really don’t think that’s gonna happen to us,” she laughs. “It really worked in our favour in the way that it grabbed people’s attention – they hear about Lorde and hear about Broods and then they look through our music and they make a decision on it … [When we were writing Broods] we had no idea what was going to happen. Then all of a sudden things started happening, and it was like, ‘Holy shit, we’re actually going to have to think about what we’re doing!’ I think it was a bit of a kick up the arse to make us work a bit harder when we realised that there was actually people out there who cared. Sometimes that’s what you need to get yourself into the right space, to reach your potential. It’s been awesome for us.”

As brother and sister, they’ll be making the trip back to Australia in November to showcase their latest record. Nott reckons she and brother Caleb make a great team. “I mean, we’ve grown up in the same household, we’ve been enveloped in the same culture our whole lives, same morals, same values, same outlook on life – it makes everything a little more straightforward when it comes to decisions. There’s no conflict, it’s just like an unspoken thing where we both know what’s going on with each other at the same time - and luckily for us, it works.”