Much better, vocal could still be louder : IMHO
160kbps good, solid.
Guitars in beginning are nice and smoothage ...
Still feel I'm challened to hear - and then understand clearly - the words in the vocal in the very beginning. The first hook is good.
We all find it difficult to sing the first line or two, almost all of us warm up and start to sing louder as we continue.
At 1:06 I'm happy, but you are holding back, let this all hang out baby, let that vocal soar with volume. You've got it in you.
You lyrical approach is 'breathy' and whisper like remember. This means you are already 'low in the mix', and a vocal like this should actually ride way out on top of the mix, that is really the great contrast you are looking for, you just don't realize it yet ;-)
Imagine running all the instruments to one output and compressing that output. And then letting the vocal ride in it's own bus, think about the mix control that can give you.
From 1:41 to 1:59, I would bring this guitar up in the mix, there's probably going to be a solo here huh ?
At 2:00 when the vocal comes back in, the guitar does get louder, but it's almost competeing with the vocal.
I feel like you are developing some tension in your voice. Gentle tiny shrugs of the shoulder, flexing the knees very gently, just before taking your preparatory breath to begin singing the phrase. Let is all go, before you sing, let the tension develop over the life of the phrase, rather than at the beginning of the phrase.
In other words, kind of slack jawed to begin with, and let the grimace build ... just think this, and we will hear it.
Keep a glass of water room temperature next to you. Take a tiny sip, hold it in your mouth for as long as you possibly can, breath deeply, flex your nostrils and nasal passages, your sinuses slowly and gently, create a flow of moist air in and out of all that 'singing machinery' before you sing, and breath deeply and slowly, 10 or more breath cycles. This will oxygneate you very well, and prepare you to really sing and hold out those long notes.
And those long notes set you up with an excellent opportunity to back that with a harmony vocal, like at 0:58, and 1:08 ...
Good work, much, much better mix.
Nice song, dark like tan rye bread ...