C.D. On Songs: Gem Club - "Acid and Everything"

I am not sure if Gem Club is a new group or simply new to me. If they're simply new to me, then I will kick myself for sleeping on them for so long. Maybe you've been hip to them, maybe not. This is your chance. I beseech you to download and listen to this track. And then consider seeing them do their thing live Saturday night at the Lilypad with Pearl and The Beard. Once you get there, consider grabbing a copy of their new EP, named after the song reviewed below. Do all of these things and thank us later.

Gem Club - "Acid and Everything"
[download it!]

You see this song title and expect something perhaps a little on the wild side. Maybe it's the mention of drugs. Gem Club's trip, however, is a quiet and introspective one. This song falls and settles gently upon the listener, sifting through the corporeal parts of the body and landing almost directly on the soul.

What grants this song an immediate passage to the heart? It may be the simple, understated musical refrain on the piano, or the soft swell of the strings under the electrified vocal. The fine thing about this song is that it has the ability to be in a major key and depict (and mete out) heartbreak at the same time. It may be the resigned tempo of the song or the pacing of the piano, but the intensity of this song's quiet emotion begins almost immediately and does not let up.

In terms of provoking a good emotional response, "Acid and Everything" is like the song that you fully believe should have been in some soundtrack, but just isn't yet. This isn't just "montage scene music," this is "final scene montage music." And not just the final scene in the movie, but the final scene in the beloved TV series - we're thinking Sia's "Breathe Me" from the final montage of "Six Feet Under," minus all the urgency and dyin'. Be sure to give this song the space and time it needs - and you will find something that we daresay we might call "beautiful," and who doesn't want that?

Want to submit your band's song to C.D. On Songs?

To be reviewed in a C.D. On Songs column:

*Be a Boston-based band/artist.

*Email a single mp3/m4a/etc. (or a download link to one) to cdonsongs (at) gmail (dot) com, with the subject line "C.D. on Songs" (DO NOT send us a bunch of songs and make us pick, we will ignore you). We require a file – not a streaming link.

*Include album cover art if you have any. If you don't, a band photo or logo is acceptable.

*Tell us when you want to see it! Give us the date of your show and we'll make sure it runs as close as possible to that day. No kidding.

We will assume that we have your permission to make the song downloadable on Boston Band Crush (readers will want to hear it, after all). If that's not ok with you, say so and provide us with a link to the song on an embeddable player like ReverbNation – something we can include in the post (and not just link to).