Too Close has a very powerful introduction with a heavy hitting bassline that is hard to miss. The mix is really clean and homorhythmic. It is a very energetic track that has the right amount of raucous energy to lift the listeners mood. This track is just electric and doesn’t let you sit down and listen. Right from the introduction to the chorus, the electric energy does not die down!
Wesley is a recording artist hailing from Raleigh and goes by the stage name Gemïny. Gemïny is famous for some upbeat music that is apparently a combination of some raspy rock and smooth jazz, along with his pop soul vocals. Groovy, uplifting and electric music that I can listen to on repeat! In 2020, he began participating in freelance work recording hooks and background for various aspiring artists in hopes of raising money for the National Alliance on Mental Illness. This later grew into small gig work in the local Columbia bars where Gemïny performed both back up and keys for various bands.
An artist with a rich history and some music filled with rich melodies. What I love about the track is the mix. It is so spacious and clean with no elements overlapping. Its as if each instrument has a separate role and are perfectly functioning like a well oiled machine. The vocal effects are really creative and add a much needed experimental flavor to his music. The vocals tend to bounce ping pong from left to right with some parts that randomly pop in like ear candy. Its as if the whole track revolves around the vocals. The background melodies are very subtle yet effective. The bassline is the only thing that gives this track movement. Really rounded kick and bass that just seems to sit perfectly amidst all the raucous. An electric track from an upcoming artist who we should all keep our ears open for!
We had the opportunity to get in touch with Gemïny to learn more about him and his music.
1. Before we get into the music, could you give us an insight into what made you work toward raising funds for the National Alliance of Mental Health?
“Actually NAMI essentially plays a major part of my musical journey. At the time there was a lot going that year a close friend of mine was going through some hard times was placed in a rehabilitation institution to help with his depression and drug abuse. He is a huge part of who i am today so naturally him just disappearing for 2 days before that news was revealed to us was a huge shock and raised concerns. After that of course i was with him throughout that struggle and that’s when it really started to click with me how important mental health is. Of course on the other side of the spectrum i had just gotten out of a toxic relationship/situationship with a girl who had lost her father and was eventually admitted and in the end of it all i witnessed her suicide. I started raising money before her passing but she definitely played a major role in that decision and my musical growth in general.”
2. What is the story behind your stage name?
“When it comes to my stage name it’s honestly not as crazy as you would think. My name is Sage and I am actually an Aries but s/o to Sage the Gemini because since red nose came into the world people have been calling me gemini. Of course i had to find a way to separate that from others so the ï came in later because i wanted a way to symbolize the split sides of me. It’s pretty rare it comes out but those little angels and demons on your shoulders are always there and when that dark side wins there’s definitely a significantly more savage kid that comes out for better or worse. The y is just regular old flavor text looked cool.”
3. The mix is absolutely perfect in ‘Too close’, could you give aspiring musicians some tips on keeping their mix clean?
“While i know they say that the makings of a good track is 70% the recording i personally don’t feel i can take that much credit for the tracks success. When it comes to the mix Josh Flores did the work for that and Jeremy Chua is my go to mastering engineer, so, i can’t claim to be an engineering genius. However, i do know that the biggest aspects to making a great mix breaks down to eq balancing and effect automation. Especially when it comes to my productions there’s a lot of tracks that have to be mixed and ensuring they don’t tire listeners out is key. making sure to allow pockets of space in that frequency map is key and ensuring that one reverb doesn’t clash with another or ends at that optimal point to ensure nothing is muddied is key.”
4. What is the story behind ‘Too close’?
“When it comes to the story of too close it’s a long one. Too close is actually a song that places you in the middle of the story where we’re right at the climax and pushing it past those limits to the falling actions. Essentially that girl we were talking about earlier. This is her story. We’re gonna unravel a lot more of the details as the album “Victoria’s Secret” slowly unravels (we’re a long ways away from that and Victoria is actually a different girl with an important role, but i digress). Essentially i had been talking to her for i think it had been 2 years without really committing and still doing my thing where as she was putting in that full effort. It led to a really toxic one-sided love with incidents of premeditated gang assault (kinda harsh wording but gets the point across) me getting roofied, just a lot of “flavors of crazy” coming out at once in her attempts to make me see that she was the one for me. As far as Too Close its more of a reflection on my part after i had discovered that the assault/battery i was talking about previously was orchestrated by the girl in question. She had just been in a car crash while i was with someone else who ultimately disclosed that information to me as i was leaving to drive to the crash site. Too Close was written after the entirety of the relationship came to a close so there is a lot of details that aren’t necessarily meant to be shared with the audience this early. But it is me trying to separate myself from the damage not accepting how my actions played into both the trauma’s placed on me throughout the situationship, and what ultimately became of the love interest in question. (For privacy reasons i try not to disclose her name hopefully that isn’t an issue). With the car crash being that moment when things really change the line “push it to the limit” seemed almost like a necessity to be included as it captured both the imagery of the crash, but also symbolizes how in the end we had both been pushed beyond our limits causing everything to spin out of control.”
5. Given a choice, would you collaborate with any other artist? If so, who and why?
“For collaboration i mean there are a lot of big goals there been looking at some local talent here in Columbia and possibly doing some work with them. As well as some artists in the underground scene on the twitterverse. But long term i do think it would be really cool to collaborate with Dua Lipa or possibly Tate Mcrae. I feel like for both of them there’s a shared musical quality we have that would make it fun to collaborate. For the most part i feel like the productions i work on would just fit with Dua’s sound and with Tate we both just rock that sad girl/boy hours vibe. Wprking with Bruno Marz would also be cool but that’s a fan boy thing and again these are definitely long term goals.”
6. What’s next for GEMÏNY?
“As for what’s next there’s a lot of music in the pipeline the next single Avalanche is coming out June 8th really excited for that one my 2nd favorite song on the conceptual track list for “Victoria’s Secret” that really hits on the roofie incident and how unhinged i became after i ended things with my ex flame. Super cool production as well that i worked with Yoad Nevo and of course Jeremy Chua on. A more mainstream stand alone single called Never Ever (Side A) will be out soon after that. For gigs and shows it’s going to be a pretty quiet summer just trying to get that base up first before getting back on the stage so hopefully by late July early august I will be back to contacting venues and having fun doing what i do best. Besides that just getting out there on socials and releasing behind the music blogs on https://minimege.net/blog . “
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Discovered via http://musosoup.com
