Album Review: Broods, Conscious

Lorde is such a unique talent that trying to pass yourself off as a soundalike is surely the definition of pointlessness.

But that was the charge levelled two years go at Broods, teen siblings from the same stretch of Auckland suburbia as the Royals singer and with a similarly breathy aesthetic, their dreamy angst dripping with adolescent wonder and premature-onset ennui. Yet after a first album that indeed suggested variations on someone else's theme, Georgia and Caleb Nott grow into themselves on Conscious, a thumping statement of electro-pop intent.

Such is their confidence, they've even had Lorde over for a duet - impossible to imagine on their worshipful debut. And while her breathy vocals are the lynchpin of Heartlines, she is more than equalled for star power by Georgia Nott, the younger vocalist going the full Stevie Nicks on Hold The Line (not a Toto cover, tragically) and presiding imperiously over her brother's shimmering electro-scapes on Free.Stunning.