It’s fair to say that here at TMR we quite like GEMS. A claim supported by our coverage of most of their indie-pop outpourings, such as ‘Scars’, ‘Living As A Ghost’, ‘Tangled Memories’, ‘Soak’, ‘w/ou’ and most recently ‘Blow Out The Light’. This L.A. via Washington D.C. pair are well known for toying with the darker side of pop and new release ‘Free Fall’ is no exception. The opening of static, bass-tone hums, clipped vocal highs and tinny symbol ping is eerie, as though GEMS are communing with some supernatural other-world. This misty atmosphere is consistent, but not repetitive, because ‘Free Fall’ is punctuated by New Romantics-era guitar lines, fuzzy synths lurking in the background, and trap-like beats which turn from minimalism to garage in a heartbeat. This kind of diverse dark-pop is exactly why we love GEMS. - HT