News Mix #010: GEMS

When you think of duos you might think of the snarling, harsh rock aesthetic that defines guys like The White Stripes or Deap Vally. It’s a sound bigger than you ever deemed two people capable of producing. And although that’s also the case for Washington DC pair GEMS, they’re honing in at something entirely different. Their sound is immediately evocative. It takes you right where you yearn to be, whether that’s sipping horchatas with Ezra Koenig on a Bahamas beach or taking flight and lifting off from any everyday reality. The mix they’ve compiled exclusively for DIY ties together songs rooting for a similar goal. Whether its Mac DeMarco’s booze-soaked ramblings or SOHN’s beat-coated songwriting, escape is a running theme. The mix opens with the soundtrack from American Beauty and closes with the sound of DeMarco’s guitars spinning into an abrupt halt.



How long have you two known each other and how did GEMS emerge as a project?
Lindsay: We met at the end of college. We played in different groups together and traveled the country for a few years. After being nomads for a spell we decided to get some new recording equipment and hunkered down in Washington DC. We spent a few months living in a hundred-year-old carriage house and that’s where we came up with the band name and wrote the first songs.

Have you had experience in other bands? Clifford, did you always know how well Lindsay could sing?
Clifford: When we first started playing music together it was in another band and I couldn’t even get Lindsay to sing alone with me. She was very shy! I could tell right away that she had a good ear though, and she played very tastefully. I think that’s what making music with other people is all about: being able to listen.

How much of your music is about location? When I listen to your songs I get taken away from routine and the chilly streets of England. Do you dream up of someplace distant and tropical when you write your own songs?
L: Usually we try and actually go someplace tropical. I love recording in exotic places, like the beach or the desert. We have a mobile recording setup we can take anywhere. I’m usually someplace weird in my head anyways though.

Your music’s been labelled as ‘escapist’ but what does escape mean to you? It means something different for every person, I find.
L: I like music that takes me somewhere else, to a different time and place, to some imagined past. I studied music in college and one of my classmates once used the term “nowstalgia” about the feeling you get when you’re nostalgic, but about something that never really happened to you. I love that feeling, like you’ve lived a bunch of different lives that you don’t really remember, but do, kind of…

Are these songs personal or do you imagine characters or narratives within your songwriting?
L: They are all very personal, usually specific situations in our lives extrapolated. We tried to write songs with characters before, but I felt disingenuous singing them. I feel like we have to write about what we know or we’re bullshitting. I want to connect to people through shared suffering, and it has to be real.

Do you welcome comparisons to bands like Beach House or have you not been influenced by those guys at all?
L: I really like Beach House! Very early on when we’d just met we saw them play in Washington DC and were inspired to have a project that was just the two of us and not a full band (they didn’t have a drummer yet). I’m fine with people making comparisons…There’s so much music out there that I think it helps to have some point of reference when discovering new music. It does feel like we have our own thing, though.

Can you take us through your mix and explain some of the song choices and what they mean to you?
L: When I was a kid my mom had the American Beauty Soundtrack on CD and I used to listen to it on repeat. I loved the space it put me in. When I first heard London Grammar’s ‘Hey Now’ I was immediately transported back to that place, I love it!
C: I can’t get enough of SOHN. I’ve been listening to the tracks on his soundcloud nonstop and this is his newest track. This and the new James Blake album…such great production and interesting beats. Empress Of I’m also really excited about. Can’t wait to hear a full length from her.
L: One of the shows I was most excited to see at SXSW was MØ. I like her other songs too, but I’ve listened to this one (‘Maiden’) over and over and over. That guitar riff! Indians is another artist from Copenhagen, Denmark. Also awesome to see live.
C: We’ve seen Sam Flax a few times now. Totally underappreciated but he put out a great album last year.
L: I had heard some Widowspeak online a while back but it didn’t grab me. We stumbled upon them at SXSW, though, and were totally enamoured. You have to see them live to get the full experience. It’s sexy and dreamy, but rock and roll at the same time.

Tracklist:
American Beauty Soundtrack
London Grammar - Hey Now
SOHN - Bloodflows
James Blake - Retrograde
Blue Hawaii - Try to Be
MØ - Maiden
GEMS - Never Age
Empress Of - Don’t Tell Me
Indians - Magic Kids
Sam Flax - Fire Doesn’t Burn Itself
Widowspeak - Ballad of a Golden Hour
Mac Demarco - Sherill

DIY Neu Mix - #010 - GEMS by Diy on Mixcloud