I just knew when I saw your matter of fact pronouncement about the 'acoustic' album ... the 14 songs ... the 'goal' ... I just knew I was in for a treat with this first one. And I was right.
Tough ... challenging lyric to perform, I'd like to hear you hold back a bit on this first verse, take two groups of several ... or even 5 long, gentle, full breaths before you begin this performance of the first verse ... fill up and get prepared ... then let the first verse out as several long, gentle, pronunciation streams. Start totally relaxed, totally oxygenated ... then let the tension build in the first verse ... and then the flower blossoms in the chorus, the sunshine comes out. And this is happening already.
It's very nice as it is, but I think you could do a mind blowing groovy performance of these verses ... IMHO ... hey, I can dream can't I ?
This is actually very challenging verse material to actually 'sing'.
The lyric is easily understandable, sits on the top layer of the mix, and is always clearly on top.
The chorus is excellent, fantastic synch on the doubling ?, nearing perfection dude, and neat harmonies. Great panned placement, excellent level on the secondary voices. Good compression techniques so far !
The piano interlude is cool, it should come up in volume just a touch, and I think maybe a bit more verb on the second interlude, a dry first interlude, and a really wet second one ... take us to a different place for a moment perhaps.
What you do in the second verse is better. The verses are the big challenge here. You are a bit of slacker, and a precise performer here, medium throat, medium mouthed. You are really grooving in this little funky, slightly jazzy, but complex and understated groove. I like this.
Second chorus is tight as a tic. You may have the choruses overcompressed, let them flow more dynamically IMHO, compress the verses.
ohhhh ... shiiiiiit ... that's three part in the choruses isn't it ... awesome ! Great vox mix in these choruses. You HAVE the headroom on the lead to place these bg vox ... very nice.
As I learn compression techniques, I am also learning that I can easily become a 'compression freak'.
I love these hand-drums ?
The 'whoa yea-eah-eah' ... I'd like you to make a bit more of this, that can 'throw' us into this next interlude a little more aggressively I think, and you could roll a tiny touch of 1/8 second delay off that ...
At 1:43, beware the side-stick, it is a very, very dominant type of sound altogether, it will cut through ANYTHING, it really demands the attention of the listener, and I think it will actually be much, much more effective at a much lower volume, it's a groove enhancer, it's a little metrognome to help drive us through this section, beware of it's overuse, the vocal is much to nice here to distract us from it with the side-stick or rim shot or whatever that is ... IMHO.
These vocals are MONEY.
Man, this three part stuff is CAKE !
At 2:02, these guitars sound overcompressed ... ya freak !
Lovely piano.
I hear a very real confidence building in your performance style, and it is a pleasure observing you develop.
I tracked the guitar twice and panned both, I usually do that for all songs with acoustic guitar, to me it's worth it.