An album full of gems

If you watched any of the TV teen-dramas like “The O.C.,” “Gossip Girl” and “90210” within the last four years, chances are you have heard the Welsh singer-songwriter Jem Griffiths, commonly referred to solely as Jem.

Although her last album, Finally Woken, gathered quite a large fan base due to its catchy and soft sound, Down to Earth keeps the listener guessing with each track.

Jem’s whispery, breathy quality to her voice is a hallmark, and she is often compared to Dido and Sarah McLaughlin.

But if Finally Woken is the soft, sweet, idyllic representation of Jem, Down to Earth is her feisty, dominatrix counterpart: filled with globally-influenced beats, racy lyrics, and funky tones.

The track “Aciid!”, is the largest departure from her usual style, featuring techno-fabulous undertones you’d expect to find in a dance club rather than on the “Gossip Girl” soundtrack. Her voice is somewhat synthesized as she half-sings, half-raps Japanese (yes, Japanese), and says “kiss my ass.”

The best track on Down to Earth is clearly “Crazy.” Although it doesn’t have the same fanatical tune of “Aciid!”, it’s far from ordinary.

The song opens with a banjo playing a poppy, hip beat and takes an instrument usually reserved for back-country ditties to establish a funky melody. It straddles the lines between pop and alternative while oozing loads of cool.

Although the individual songs in Down to Earth greatly differ from each other, there is a uniformity that characterizes the entire album. The consistency slightly hampers Jem’s ability to redefine herself in almost every song.

One would think that having such a distinctive voice would be limiting, bounding Jem to a single genre. Perhaps the variations between traditional notes and avant-garde sounds enable her to transcend from techno, ballads and pop music, in effect, appealing to an insanely broad audience.

Indeed, Down to Earth has something for everyone.