GEMS – “Soak” (Stereogum Premiere)

GEMS – “Soak” (Stereogum Premiere)

GEMS introduced debut album Kill The One You Love with “Living As A Ghost,” a bass-booming track with a distortion-charged chorus. The song resembled many of this decade’s guy-girl indie electronic rock duos — Phantogram, Sleigh Bells, Purity Ring — while planting a flag in distinct sonic territory of their own, a winsome mishmash of ’90s pop/alt-rock/R&B sounds. Second single “Soak” expands on that stylistic evolution. Beginning with thundering kickdrum programming and finger-snaps, it expands with a jolt into an array of gleaming clean guitars, haunted synth pads, and throttling digital drums before overdriven guitar and angelic harmonies wash over the chorus. Lindsay Pitts and Clifford John Usher duet on this one, telling a story about longing to reunite with an ex-lover. Perhaps channeling LeAnn Rimes, Pitts provides the song’s climactic lyrical turn: “How do I sleep without you? / How do I dream without you? / How do I breathe without you? / How do I say this to you?” Soak it up below.

GEMS are touring with Autre Ne Veut this fall:

Kill The One You Love is out 10/30 on Carpark. Pre-order it from iTunes or the label. And if you’re wondering what GEMS look like when they’re not in sculpture form, here’s a photo by Holly Burnham:

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