History of Something - You Are. We Are. For Life.

History of Something

You Are. We Are. For Life.
self-released; 2014

3.2 out of 5

By Jamie Funk

The band History of Something formed three years ago but just recently released their first EP entitled You Are. We Are. For Life. .The three-piece consisting of Jason Baumann, Todd Tieul and Tim Baumann flirt with a number of genres but the primary one is pop punk. You Are. We Are. For Life. is a mixed bag. They display some talent and can write a decent tune. That being said the EP feels scattered and inconsistent.

The recording quality is about average for a DIY project. The guitars could have been more defined and the mix less muddy but overall it didn’t take away too much impact from the songs.

“Unveiling” is the first track on the album and has little in common with anything else you will hear. It starts with an emergency siren and an ominous atmosphere that gets bombarded by distorted waves of guitar and a spoken word piece. The post-apocalyptic sounds are further intensified by the lyrics, “You are a human being. Flesh, blood, full of untapped potential. But what if you could be more? Live on far into the future? What if you could be immortal?” 

The next song “There Are No Leagues” has little or anything to do with ““Unveiling” with regards to lyrics or mood. It’s a light, upbeat, loose pop punk style song that revolves around lyrics about a girl the vocalist likes. He sings, “Things seem different / This girl is special / She likes me for me / She isn't superficial / Super rad and the prettiest / She's all I could have asked for / I've got a bad feeling about this.”

“Cold” is yet another thirty-eight second deviation that revolves around an electronic drumbeat, orchestral string and piano. The next track ”Better When You're With Me” reverts to the pop punk vibe but also interweaves some hard rock elements.

“Unfortunate Events (Ft. Bobby Morin)” is a straight up pop ballad that contains orchestral strings, acoustic guitar and electronic drums. Out of all the tracks this song is the one that is the most commercially viable. The band closes with “History,” which is the highlight of the EP. It contains solid guitar work towards the end which should have been more abundant on the album.

On their Bandcamp page is says that they like all genres. That’s all well and good but doesn’t necessarily mean that they should play all genres. I appreciate their ambition to mix it up but it’s going to be awfully hard finding a dedicated fan base by attempting to combine radically sounding material on a track by track basis. This being their first EP they have some time to perfect their craft and hopefully gravitate towards a particular sound in the future.

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