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Music

GROMz’s New Video Is a Melancholy Dunedin Love Story

Never has young heartbreak looked so cool.

Dunedin band GROMz have found their way this year, with their September album Two and a Half Days quickly gaining traction after its release and soaring to the top of Spotify's international charts. Within two weeks, the band were an indie sensation, their gentle surf rock connecting with New Zealand's young romantic slackers.

At first glance, GROMz's debut music video for "Mixed Up & Confused", directed by Jake Munro, is an emblem of youthful abandon and pretty romanticism. But upon further inspection, it's more than just pink lights, skateboards, and lo-fi handheld cameras.

The video is also an ode to heartbreak, loss, and distance: frontman Semisi Ma'ia'i stands solitary in the vast, cold ocean, he skates absent-mindedly down empty streets, and at the laundromat, he stares harrowingly at his own reflection in the dryer. Despite hanging out with friends at the fish and chip store or lighting firecrackers inside at a party, Ma'ia'i always seems to return to reflection about his past lover (played by Annie Wilson).

Amidst the cinematic imagery and the unglamorously beautiful, grey landscapes of Dunedin, GROMz know that young heartbreak does more than just hurt. It isolates.

Watch the video below.