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Dec 11, 2015 By Laura Studarus Web Exclusive

The melancholic odes that make up GEMS’ debut album Kill the One You Love exist in a twilight land, etched out of a cascade of ones and zeros. Glitchy trip-hop beats meet sinuous waves of synth, topped with Lindsay Pitts’ haunted soprano. The occasional acoustic guitar makes an appearance, as does Cliff Usher’s gruff backing vocals. But to hear them describe it, the pair doesn’t think of themselves as pop or electro musicians as much as mood makers.

Pitts and Usher met while attending the University of Virginia when they joined a local rock band. (“I Yokoed it!” Pitts jokes.) When the group broke up, the two stuck together, regrouping as a duo. Originally a folk outfit, GEMS slowly went electronic, working digital elements into their compositions. They describe the sonic transition in anything but musical terms.

“The number one keystone phrase that we kept between us was this idea, a sense of existential longing,” explains Usher, attempting to further dig beneath the surface of his band’s cinematic, grayscale synth pop. “It’s funny. I had never listened to Cocteau Twins before we got compared to them. And it was awesome. Strangely in our vein. I was just reading some Wikipeda entry on shoegaze. It’s funny because it was hitting the nail on the head. We arrived at it from different avenues. We weren’t trying to make music that was dream pop. I think it just came out that way.”

“I like it because it’s got the feel of something that you’re always reaching for and you can’t quite put your finger on,” adds Pitts, further expanding on their sound. “So it’s always like a journey…I don’t think it’s a cacheable thing. But I like the chase.”

Setting their true to life emotion tales to music, the two paint a dark narrative. (“Fictional stories or fictional characters, it never felt right,” Pitts reveals. “It never felt authentic to us.”) Occasionally the picture is very dark. Lovers are lost. Hearts are “black and cold,” and life and death is seemingly always on the line. But as Usher sees it, the dark and light complement each other. Without contrast, we wouldn’t truly understand what we have. Both of them express relief at having an outlet after experiencing some of life’s toughest emotions.

“The way I look at the role of an artist is kind of, you go to the edge of the void,” Usher muses. “Maybe further than other people might. You try to channel that into something constructive and beautiful…. There’s some quote, ‘How deep your sorrow is how deep the well is for your joy.’ Your range of experience is created by the lowest of the low and the highest of your highs. I don’t know which way it goes. People who are drawn to creative endeavors are also drawn to the higher highs and the lower lows.”

(www.facebook.com/GEMSband)

(www.killtheoneyoulove.com)