Breakers
Artist: Gem Club
Label: Hardly Art
Website: iamgemclub.com
Take your
shoes off, sit back and enjoy
Gem Club
represents the ever growing "quiet is the new loud" genre, as the group
hardly ever raise the vocals of Christopher Barnes past the hush of a
polite whisper. This laid back affair completely takes hold right from
the opening piano on "Twins".
It is an album that inches along but puts the
listener at ease as you simply forget to even check the time. Gem Club
have created a perfect headphones record that sticks, as the cello
playing of Kristen Drymala surfaces to the top on "Red Arrow (John)"
and showcases how a band of this soft nature can put you on the edge of
your seat. The only real thing that holds Breakers back from being a great
record is that Gem Club play the album a bit too safe and never stray
into any new territories.
The positive of this aspect is that the group
performs this style very well and I can see some of the singles here
consistently finding a playlist in my collection because they are
infectious.
The fragility of Barnes voice is what makes Gem Club still rise to the top of this genre and there should be no reason that Breakers shouldn't find the TV market or a larger audience because these songs don't just sell emotion on the sleeve - they dive much deeper and truly will hit your core.
Christopher Anthony
For more of Christopher Anthony's music reviews, check out The Fire Note