How Indie Duo Broods' 'Heartlines' Music Video Brought Technology to a New Level
“I wanna feel your heartlines.”
Indie electropop duo Broods accomplishes just that with its enthralling new music video for the latest single, “Heartlines,” off its sophomore album, Conscious, by incorporating technology in an unexpected and intimate way.
In the music video, which debuted Friday morning, the veins of Broods’ lead singer Georgia Nott, 22, take on a life of their own, illuminating throughout her body as shapes and veins as she performs the brooding song about former lovers reconnecting years later.
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To make this all happen, data was taken from Georgia’s own body while she wore the Microsoft Band, a smartwatch and smart band that tracks everything from heart rate to skin temperature, during filming of the “Heartlines” video. In post-production, that data was translated into something more tangible and visually arresting, hence the illuminated veins that also encompass the actors, New Zealand native Rose McIver and Aussie star Oliver Ackland.
“Especially to make it into something beautiful,” Caleb Nott, Georgia’s brother and Broods member, told ET in a recent Venice, California, sit-down just hours before performing an intimate set. “Whenever you see that kind of stuff, like a medical machine, it’s very industrial and very harsh. It’s nice to have that translated [in a] pretty [way].”
For Broods, who relocated to Los Angeles earlier this year, it only made sense to decode “Heartlines” in the manner in which they did.
“Lyrically, it really seemed to fit the bill,” Georgia told ET, referencing the line, “I wanna feel your heartlines,” as a key marker. “A lot of songs talk about feeling. It’s all about these emotions that you can’t see -- invisible things. When you make music videos, you get to try and bring to life a different sense. [This] satisfies a new sense that you haven’t seen before.”
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“It’s quite bizarre that anyone even refers to the heart as something to do with love because it absolutely has nothing to do with it -- it’s your brain,” Caleb said, chuckling.
For the Dano Cerny-directed video, Georgia and Caleb decided to go with professional actors instead of models, casting McIver, a close friend, and Ackland, who recently appeared on The Originals.
“When we were thinking about the casting, we were thinking we want somebody who can show this emotion in a real way. A lot of our music videos used people who were models/actors and they don’t look like real people in real life. They’re way too beautiful!” Georgia said with a laugh. “Rose’s being as a whole as an actress is just so natural and real.”
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Seeing the final product was a particular treat because the siblings were closely tied to the video’s creative direction.
“I really loved the way that it came out,” Georgia said of the music video. “When [Rose] grabs [Oliver], it’s like electricity goes through you. It’s not just something that you think, love, when you feel something for somebody else -- it’s something that you can actually feel as a physical human being. You get tingles or shivers or your heart races. What you feel physically in relation to the emotion of the song becomes an experience.”
As they prepare to begin their U.S. tour in support of Conscious, expect a similarly tech-infused visual presentation as the “Heartlines” music video -- though the Notts admit the possibilities are endless for how they can best utilize technology to elevate the live experience.
“Everything that we do is very important to us because it portrays who we are, whether we think it does or we think it doesn’t. Everything that we do -- an image in a music video, things that we say -- everything is coming from us as people, so it’s very fun for us to be involved in dotting the ‘i’s’ and crossing the ‘t’s.’
Broods kicks off its U.S. tour in Washington, D.C. on Aug. 1.