Albums
Breakers
2011
6.9
Genre: Alternative
Release Date: 2011
By Lindsay Zoladz
Reviewed September 26, 2011
Everything on this Massachusetts piano-and-cello duo's full-length debut sounds frozen over. Vocalist Christopher Barnes' haunting whisper and the elegant, minimal accompaniments assure the icy, austere sound never becomes louder than a hush.
Gem Club is an exclusive society: two people, a piano, and a cello. Vocalist Christopher Barnes sings in a quivering whisper, and these minimal accompaniments assure that their sound never becomes louder than a hush. But the Massachusetts duo's debut EP, , showed just how much emotional intensity you could pack into compositions so spare, and how much could be suggested with so little.