Breakers Hardly Art****

Let's get slow. Hailing from Massachusetts, Gem Club is made up solely of vocalist/ pianist Christopher Barnes and celloist Kristen Drymala. Such a small congregation comes with a beautifully hushed, moody, sparse, unhurried sound. Throughout this lovely, perfectly weighted debut album, the duo's sometimes mournful but always engaging minimalism is never less than striking. Barnes has a lovely quiver of a voice, one part James Blake to two parts Mark Hollis, which is perfectly in tune with the symphonic, sadcore drift of tracks such as Twinsand Red Arrow. It's quite rare to come across an act content to dwell in such vast, sombre silences rather than attempting to reach more people by embellishing and over-egging the qualities that made them so attractive in the first place. A record perfectly pitched for autumnal and winter moods. See iamgenclub. com

Download tracks: Twins, Red Arrow