Music Spectrum

There’s a classic rock sense in the jam of the Influence. The guitars tear up the scene, but they are buoyed by Jam Band rhythms. Falling Objects opens with the title track and “Slippin’”, songs that keep moving ahead with an intensity. Hard rock flashes are interrupted by rhythmic breaks, five-part vocal breaks, and tempo changes in a way that’s similar to Gooding. Matt Stephenson’s vocals leads the song with an Emo introspection even while turning out trills to pick up a dance-like beat (“The Break”).

“Falling Objects” also makes good fodder for reflecting on one’s sinfulness as the song’s chorus says: “We’re all falling objects/All falling objects/One day we will rest/Until then/we’re southern bound.” We are all fallen creatures (fallen away from what God wanted us to be), but one day we will rest in Jesus, rest in His forgiveness, love, and mercy. While the Influence may be occupied in thinking that we’re hellbound, in Christ there’s hope for all of the fallen objects. There’s hope despite what the song says: “We’re so lost/In our heads,/Your things mean nothing,/In the end,/You,ll find.” Even though we’re lost and caught up in the things of this world, even though all of that will amount to nothing, there’s hope for the falling objects. It’s as they sing, “One day we will rest.” One day we will be at peace with God through what Jesus has done. What a great song of hope!

On a side note, the ballad “Windows” has some strains similar to Chris Tomlin’s worship song, “God of Wonders.” Now “Windows” isn’t a worship song; it’s a song of wanting to save a woman from an abusive relationship. The line “I’ll kill him if you want me to” escalates the violence, but I understand the frustration of seeing someone who is being abused. Yet, rather than taking on the savior complex, perhaps the song could’ve turned to God’s help rather than suggesting a vigilante justice.

The Influence

Music Spectrum went on an unscheduled hiatus in recent months. This review is part of the “basement notebooks”—old reviews written by hand but only being posted online. Enjoy!

Sadly, this post comes way too late. The Spoon Benders have broken up with lead singer/founding member Matt Winfree beginning a new life in Hawaii, but that’s no reason to stop you from buying their CD. . . .

Like the Strange, the Spoon Benders’ sound is this huge hook that grabs and envelops you, charging your pulse by Brian Bennett’s drums which propel these jams. You hear it right away on Resurrecting the Giants opener, “Making My Name,” where 30 seconds of building intensity launch into a bluesy, Jam Band rocking groove. Throughout the album, the jams this band delivers are built on, fueled by, inspired by, and shaped by Bennett’s drums—fills, rolls, punctuation, staccatos, and runs. When Matt Winfree sings, “What the world needs now is another good hook” (“Another Good Hook”), much of these hooks come from now Bennett hangs them on his drumming.

Because the Spoon Benders live in that Jam Band space (even making reference to “your buckets of blow”), there’s the tightrope walk between condoning and questioning free love/free drugs. “Another Good Hook” and its “buckets of blow” seem to be peeling back the onion of the music business to say it isn’t just about the scene; it’s just about the hook. Yet, I’m sure “buckets of blow” used to get a big cheer from the crowd.

In other places, the lyrics are sexual, seemingly pointing towards making love as an ultimate life goal. However, as I’ve found in other Jam Band lyrics, there’s also confessional words, exposing the dark side of libido and free love. Here that appears on “I Fell Out of the Van This Morning” where the speaker wants to lock up his woman every time she moans unless that moaning happens during sex. It’s a stark picture of just how heartless a man’s sexual drive can be. On “Poison the Water,” the speaker tells his woman not to pry too deep into his thoughts because there are things better left to yourself—thoughts that are too dark, too honest, too personal and would only ruin what they have.

As another common theme in Jam Band lyrics, spiritual questions swirl around the Spoon Benders—from their name (Uri Gellar) to album title (Resurrecting the Giants) to references to sin. “Making My Name” takes us to the dark, extreme side of chasing an “ungodly sense of power” which leads to being “caught up and consumed in flame.” The all-consuming fire of the Holy Spirit is a desire in our souls, but the song follows someone who chases that desire down the devil’s path. Yet, there’s a hope for a cure which could point to being saved by Christ.

“This Moment” melds a desire for a love with a spiritual description, so that “set me free” and “rescue me” are cries directed towards a woman and not God. The song is fodder for discussion (Why meld the spiritual with your human relationship talk? How is your desire for a lover similar/pointing to a desire for Jesus?).

The Spoon Benders (old site)
Matt Winfree
Yves Giraud (Myspace)
Yves Giraud

Ignore the album title (Pig Radio). Ignore the album cover (hand-drawn pigs on a hot pink background). Then press “Play.”

The Influence serve up jam rhythmic pods on a platter of folk-influenced American rock akin to first generation Train These Jam Band pods like the bridge on “The Following” come along with hand-wagging, soul-infected vocals by Matthew Archer Stephenson, but with an arena, anthemic vista within.

Throw your arms up open wide in a shout to the world while there’s still some boogie-on-down around the holler.

The Influence

As a band name, Wild Sweet Orange conjures up the taste sensation of an overpowering, more natural flavor which makes you realize that all other fruit is simply from an orange grove factory. Thankfully, Wild Sweet Orange lives up to this flavor in their sonic form as well.

“Wrestle with God,” the opening track of the band’s The Whale EP, is like the Band jammed up with Rhett Miller at the helm while having the ability to throw in a half-speed tag ending that’s slightly psychedelic, sounding like how the Old Testament patriarch Jacob might have been thinking and feeling after spending the night wrestling with God (Genesis 32:22-32) as Preston Lovingood sings, “If you want me, please come and find me/’cause I’ll be running/You know how I’ll be running.”

With its plaintive acoustic having all of the jam stripped away, “Tilt” seems to come from a soul overpowered by guilt and left knowing the ability to overcome cannot possibly come from within oneself. In fact, the track hit me on a day when I was very aware of my depraved mind (in fact, I’m aware of that most days). When the song’s chorus caught my attention (“And I fear what I’ve done/means I’ve lost what I learned”), I listened to the song again and saw it as a vivid, emotional, musical portrait of what it means to know that I am incapable of being who I want to be. At least, I can’t do that on my own. If you’ve ever locked yourself up in your room, barricaded by guilt, then this song speaks to your inner chamber and may even free you again.

As a bit of follow up thematically to “Tilt,” “Be Careful (What You Want)” has a more rocking groove. The EP closes out on the jam backbeat of “I’m Coming home” where I hear comparisons to Zox and Thomas Cunningham. The excitement in this song about returning to the love in your life again seems incredibly portent to someone like me who is spending time each week away from my wife (due to my new job). Thanks for the going home music, guys!

Wild Sweet Orange
Canvasback Music