LISTEN: Gema’s Surprise Trilogy of Love Songs
Last Wednesday saw Batam’s very own James Blake pulling off his now trademarked manoeuvre yet again; a new SoundCloud upload that came out of nowhere. This time around though, the new release actually came with an official announcement from Gema’s management much later on, stating that the track was the first of a trilogy of ‘experimental love songs’ that will see completion in the weeks after. Gema isn’t one for official dates though — yesterday and just today saw two other subsequent releases from the series, effectively finishing off the trilogy way before the planned date.
Chronicling his personal relationships from past heartbreak to recent betrothal in the language he’s most fluent in — elegiac-pitch shifted down-lowtemp r’n’b/soul music — ‘Seconds’, ‘Here’, and ‘Luv Jam’ could be a microcosm of the stages of love one would go through; it’s a concise coming-of-age narrative. In fact, at just 51 seconds, the last track of the trilogy is the shortest Gema jam we’ve heard thus far — although a rendition of D’Angelo’s ‘Really Love’ that’s just 14 seconds shy from hitting the six minute mark. But that isn’t in any way a slight, just like the oft-elusive concept of true love, he didn’t need long to make a lasting impression.
More from Gema here.