Broods – Evergreen
By, Ivy Wu
Rating: 8/10
This duo from New Zealand really chose an appropriate band name. Not only are they siblings, they do a lot of brooding on the purpose of life in their debut album Evergreen. The opening track Mother & Father dives right into the angst one feels when transitioning out of childhood and into adulthood; its existential lyrics are paired nicely with a strong beat and a catchy chorus. The album moves to increasingly darker feels, especially in the third track, “Killing You”. There seems to be a low point in the album at the 8th track, “Medicine”, which had no rising chorus and honestly seemed like a 3 minute intro to another song with more structure. However, the plunge into the dark began to turn around in “Evergreen”. This track had the addition of some lower octave male vocals to add dimension and create a fuller sound that moved into spaces you didn’t know existed and had the effect of being uplifting. Slowly, we are being brought out of the moody cave we’d been led into from the start of the album. The addition of piano in “Four Walls” was a striking contrast to the synth-filled beats of the rest of the tracks, which really worked well in creating a more comprehensive album. The classical sound paired with clear vocals was also a great showcase of Georgia’s phenomenal voice. The final track was more upbeat and concluded the journey from dark, to super dark, to normal dark again. The entire album didn’t have a whole lot of variety save for the piano in “Four Walls”, but was tied up nicely with lots of head-nod inducing beats. Evergreen is a moody album pairing synthy hooks with clear vocals for anyone who has ever thought about life beyond what their lunch will be.
Recommended: 9,4,1
FFO: Lorde, Tove Lo, Betty Who
