The Pen Name review
MUSIC REVIEW: JEMS
by Rocky Peaches
Lucerne, my grandfather’s Buick survived the move, but barely. She’s bleeding into the street where she sleeps, and considering her high mileage, there’s really nothing more to be done. So I got new a set of wheels, and tonight, Rocky’s designated driver, and he’s driving East along Beverly boulevard into Historic Filipinotown, where they got live music at The Bootleg theater.
We say nothing to security about T.W.’s camera bag and they return the favor. After that snafu at The Echoplex, we’ve learned it’s always better to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission. I buy a round of beers for the boys and we drink up and be merry. (What? I said I’d be DD, not join the priesthood.) There are several bands on the docket, but it’s the opening act we’ve come to see. The Captain put us on their scent. They’re called JEMS. I listened to a few songs earlier, and I’m not really sure what to expect.
When they sing, I feel it on my arms first, goosebumps heightened at the sound of cohesive harmonies in state, in heavenly space, this mystical place of peace and therapy. They make me wanna write poetry. Or try to, anyway. The singers: Emily Colombier, Jessica Rotter, and Sarah Margaret Huff have the best harmonies I’ve heard in my four years on the music desk. They have a sound that makes you watch. It makes you listen. My heart takes over and I experience it with unflinching honesty. I partake in the holiest of rituals, our cosmic connection with music. My God, ladies and gentlemen, I’m here, in the canyons of my life and my soul opens up as these sweet serene songbirds lift me into the heavens above. Who needs liquor, when you’ve got JEMS?! I’m getting sauced, baby. I’m feeling high. Their sound is powerful, it washes over like a waterfall of life. The cellist pulls us into their world with her strings and they sing of life and suffering, of love and heartbreak, of rise and fall, of perseverance and acceptance.
Later, when everyone crams in for the headliner, we head-line into the big room where JEMS is selling gems at the merch table. I buy some selenite, fire up the old digital recorder, and start asking questions. We hammer through the pleasantries until comfort level is raised. I ask, in regards to their music, “What do you want people to feel?”
Jessica answers first, “We want them to feel. Period.”
“Yeah, all the feelings,” echoes Emily. “I love that now it’s in fashion to be okay with not being okay. So like really taking that in and being like today is a fucking bad day, and I’m just gonna feel all the things. Or like today is a beautiful day and I’m going to feel all the things. The whole scale of it.”
“I think feeling it, and being together about it too,” says Sarah. “Like that’s been really cool too, like sharing these experiences. Like ‘Oh, I’ve been through this too.’ Like, ‘I’ve been through this too.’ Like ‘I’m not alone…’ We’ve all been through it. At the root, we’ve all been through this and it’s fucking rad and we’re. We’re here and we feel it.“
“Unity in suffering?” I suggest.
“I think it’s understanding that there’s strength in vulnerability,” Jessica replies. “I also think that once we’ve accepted all of these parts of ourselves, we feel so much more expansive and radiant. And I’m all into radiance. So, like if someone tells you that you walk in a room and you look like a cloud of sunlight and moonbeams and whatever, like they recognize that you just walked in as a light bubble. That’s what I want other people to feel too. Because that’s what I feel right now. And I think it took a long time for me to feel that way.”
Influenced by the Laurel Canyon scene, Carole King, Crosby, Still’s & Nash, Joni Mitchell, and Linda Ronstadt, JEMS classify themselves as an alt-folk trio, and their self-titled debut album rings true to this classification. But it’s the new stuff, the stuff they played tonight, that feels more like Fleetwood Mac, you can feel the slow sting of rock n’ roll. Their music is purposely full of voice. They don’t shy away from their sound. Probably my favorite part of the night is when I learn their classically trained cellist, Paula Hochhalter, is also Emily’s Mother. In JEMS, the music runs deep.