Influences are like spices in a kitchen - everyone’s got them, but not everyone knows how to use them effectively. While there are those who prefer to revel in their role models, liberally sprinkling in their favorites, there are still others that keep their inspirations closely guarded, employing only the merest pinches. There’s just one hitch: when a group douses itself too heavily in their stylistic stimuli, its personal flavor tends to get lost. Like a fine cut of meat that’s been bathed in ketchup by a culinary cretin, the last thing a band should want to do is slather themselves in their artistic forebears.
And that’s where Were It Not For You, the sophomore release from Baumer, goes wrong. From the outset, it’s obvious that the band waved its influences about too loosely in the musical kitchen. All of the key modern rock band cliché ingredients are present: big anthemic choruses, lilting falsettos, cascading keyboards, and ringing guitars. They were then mixed together with a healthy dollop of soppy, love-soaked lyrics like, “I’m loving you, loving you today and for as long as you’ll let me. No wonder I feel this way,” (from “Sidewalk Shopping”) along with several dashes and splashes of Muse, The Killers, New Order, and The Cars. What emerges is an album that tastes good, but lacks substance because the spices and seasoning have masked what meat might actually be present.
-- Adam P. Newton
