The fourth full-length from BROODS, Space Island is an exploration of grief and its many dimensions. In keeping with the New Zealand-bred duo’s unfettered imagination—an element they’ve brought to multiple platinum-and gold-certified records so far—the album’s 10 tracks exist in a radiant sonic realm, its aesthetic equally inspired by ’60s sci-fi B-movies and the balmy exotica of composers like Les Baxter. The most high-concept output yet from BROODS—a ten-time New Zealand Music Award-winning act who’ve amassed over a billion streams to date, collaborated with the likes of Lorde and Tove Lo, toured with HAIM and Taylor Swift, and taken the stage at festivals such as Coachella and Lollapalooza—Space Island came to life during a period of serious upheaval for lead vocalist Georgia Nott. Having married at the age of 21, she went through a difficult divorce soon after the release of BROODS’ previous album Don’t Feed the Pop Monster (a 2019 effort that led to appearances on “Late Night with Seth Meyers” and “The Late Late Show with James Corden”). As Georgia turned to songwriting as a means of processing her grief, she and her brother/bandmate Caleb Nott discovered an unlikely but fitting vessel for that emotional outpouring: the album’s gorgeous constellation of otherworldly beats, swooning guitar tones, and effervescent synth lines. As a result, Space Island introduces a dazzling new intensity into BROODS’ atmospheric indie-pop while providing a powerful conduit for catharsis.
