JEM

Singer songwriter Jem, entered the music industry by storm via the exposure she gained from her tracks featuring as sync, soundtracks for TV shows including The O.C., Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, CSI Miami and Six Feet Under, whereby literally millions of listeners worldwide have heard her music. 

Jem fused elements of rock, new wave-styled electronica and trip-hop in her first album Finally Woken.  I would say she is a an alto vocalist who if was transported to a jazz bar would easily be in harmony with her slightly husky laid back vocal sound.

I would be speaking on behalf of her if I claimed she is clearly influenced by Imogen Heap, who I will shortly be posting a blog about. However as a listener, whether musically trained or not you can easily hear the similarities in their new wave electronica style intermixed with live orchestral string timbres.

She is an artist who really relishes on different timbres and captures the essence of contemporary classical music.  Tracks such as 24 have featured in the trailer Ultraviolet; the TV series Smallville and Without a Trace; and the film Center Stage: Turn It Up.  The use of the track in film Centre Stage: Turn it up was a fundamental musical accompaniment to the final dance scene of the film, whereby the piece begins with a monophonic melodic line played by the violins in close harmony, which acts as a driving ostinato figure throughout the piece.  Following, the hip hop beat kicks in, supporting the imagery of contemporary ballet into a jazz style of dance.  The diatonic harmony of the strings is interrupted by the forceful distorted sound of the guitar who acts as a continuous interjected drone throughout the chorus’ playing the first and third beats of each 4/4bar. Today, within the film industry the recent, new up and coming genre of dance themed films tend to choose a similar style of music combining a traditional romantic piece (Tchaikovsky) for a ballet sequence with modern day urban club music.  This is generally because the films would only be popular to a young audience if the contemporary times of dance were included, thus a fusion of dance styles and a fusion of music genres.   

Check out her website if you like what you hear...http://www.jem-music.net/

Write a comment or recommend a film you have recently seen where the music really captured the scene for you from any style of film.  

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