The sound of Gem Club is chamber pop ... gentle, tender music arranged around Barnes' often agonizingly beautiful piano skills. "Soft Season" is an elegiac song inspired by the life and death of early-90s gay adult film actor Joey Stefano.
One of the things that makes a song or poem powerful is its universality. And I admit that this particular piece might not have universal appeal, but I am quite partial to it since it seems to be an uncanny, near word-for-word portrayal of a very specific time--a few actual incidents--in my own life. But I hope that there is a sort of universal idea here, one of fleeting youth full of the peculiar paradox of youth: confidence and fear, a mix of bold exploration and apprehension of the unknown. Maybe we have all been there ... and if you haven't, please let the narrative open a door for you to another perspective. The words in their musical form never fail to move me to tears.
Soft Season
by Gem Club (Chris Barnes)
Muscle shakes up against the wall
White waves in his mouth
He twists into a snake
He has all the time that he needs
And the eyes in the place
For as long as it lasts
I’m a boy on my back
And I’m more of a man
Might try to hurt me
Might try to love me too much
All the men dance like diamonds
In the back room beauties
Will compare their flowers
And he pulls on the mattress
I am soft for the season
I look up and you’re leaving
And I’m out in the hallway
Where I work on my bloodline
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