The Washington, DC duo GEMS, comprised of Lindsay Pitts and Clifford John, have developed their own brand of intoxicating, cinematic dream-pop that is deeply heartbreaking and romantic. The duo weaves a dark web of intimate male and female vocals, hazy guitars and lush synthesizers. Their songs are tragic, haunting, and tinged with melancholy and existential longing.
Having recently dropped their self-released EP, Medusa, GEMS continue to crawl towards "best band in town status," according to the Washington Post. Each GEMS track is a true stunner, with "Pegasus" featured on NPR's All Songs Considered for its "fuzzy, dreamy synths and singer Lindsay Pitts' sultry vocals," and "Medusa" deemed "one of the best songs of the year" on Gorilla vs. Bear and acknowledged by Pitchfork for its "soaring, emotionally laden vocal take from Pitts, a guitar line that hangs glittering in space, booming low-end rhythms that bloom like black dahlias." The immediate success of Medusa is just the beginning for this promising new band, with much more to come in the new year.
"GEMS at times resembles both Beach House and the xx, but its song structures are more rhapsodic, lingering over obsessions. . . it’s Ms. Pitts’s voice that carries most of the torchy, almost proud tidings of lost love above stately, booming beats and chiming guitars or keyboards, pining — the way the broken-hearted pine — over possibilities that might be lost." [New York Times]
