Notes on EWBAITE-era demos by anonymous A&R assistant

The following was uploaded by AllThingsWeezer user malevolentdonut on October 11, 2019:

I got in contact with someone on reddit who worked as an A&R assistant and got sent a big pile of EWBAITE demos by Rivers (at the time he joined the project, the 200 songs being considered were narrowed down to 50, and no, he doesn't have the demos anymore, the playlists he was sent got taken down), but he still had his notes that he took on the songs and he very generously shared them. It's unexpectedly huge, a big pile of unknown songs and lots of info on songs we know exist. Enjoy!!

Notes

Hey first I'll send you my notes from all the demos I was sent. They were sent in 3 batches to me (for some reason I can't find the first batch).

Everybody Needs Salvation (7.5/10)

-Love the transition from acoustic verse to heavy chorus

-The vocal melodies are very catchy

-The piano tone isn’t my favorite

-The bridge is a great build back into the another solo/chorus

-The outro/ending is awesome

Expatriates in Paris (6.5/10)

-The intro is internesting and really different

-The verse is really cool and makes me excited for the chorus, but the chorus didn’t have the same hook for me as the verse

-The bridge is really cool, and builds the tension really well

-Love the outro

My Guitar (8.5/10)

-Love the heavy intro reminds me of Maladroit-era

-Love the vocal melodies

-If the chorus was a bit bigger than the verse that’d make me love the song even more

-Love the heavy feel of this song, it fits perfectly with the sound this album is creating

-Bridge breakdown is killer

Little Cyclone (6/10)

-The guitar tone is awesome on this track

-Guitar solo is awesome

-The hook doesn’t quite grab me as much in this track as the other ones have

-The “slow down” part of the song is a cool literal translation of the lyrics

Send Her To Heaven (9/10)

-Love the lo-fi feel of this song

-Really catchy vocal melody

-The backing guitar on the chorus is amazing

-I love this song

Getting It Out (6/10)

-Got a classic rock feel to this song

-Great high-energy chorus

-The old-school rock style of this song isn’t my favorite, so my rating may be a little biased because of personal preference

-Catchy vocal melodies

Freckles (8/10)

-Interesting synth intro, pretty cool

-Love the “la la la” vocal part

-Verse has got a cool retro 90’s feel

-The vocal melody in the chorus doesn’t grab me as much as the “la la la” part does

-The chorus melody would be the only thing I’d want to change however, rest of the song is really cool.

-Harmonies sound awesome

The New Girl (5.5/10)

-The guitars in the verse sound great

-Catchy vocal melody in the verse

-The piano isn’t my favorite sound on this song

-The guitars sound great throughout

-The chorus doesn’t grab me as much as in the other songs

The Love Of My Life (5/10)

-The beginning has a cool Tame Impala/psychedelic-feel

-Vocals sound great in the chorus

-Cool how the guitars get grungier in the chorus

-The verse doesn’t have the hook that pulls me in to chorus

Vibrator (7.5/10)

-Love the guitar work right from the start of this song

-High energy through out

-Love the guitar squeel in the pre-chorus

-Love how that awesome riff from the beginning returns in the chorus

-I suppose the slightly lowered rating is only relative to how catchy I think the higher rated songs are.

Simple To Me (5/10)

-Dig the drum beat at the start

-Vocal melody seemed a little predictable to me

-Chorus hook doesn’t grab me

-Guitars sound awesome in the chorus

-Do-Do-Do breakdown part sounds great with the harmony

Ballad Of The Briny (7/10)

-Love the guitar progression in the verse

-Lead guitar sounds great throughout verse and chorus

-Maybe a bit more vocal melody movement in the verse would pull me in more

-Chorus vocal melody catchy but I think could benefit from some movement in a higher register

-Love the heavy feel of this song

-The organ in the outro is killer

I’m Just Being Honest (6/10)

-Bass sounds great with the a killer guitar line in the opening

-Rhythm guitar works perfect with the vocals

-Chorus doesn’t have a vocal melody that pulls me in like the verse did

-Bridge has an awesome build up

Meet Up With Our Maker (7/10) -Love the doubled lead guitar lines in the intro -Very strokes sounding intro (sounds awesome) -Chorus doesn’t hit quite hard enough for me, and sounded a bit predictable -Vocals sound great -Guitar solo sounds great with heavy guitar lines

Codependent (6/10) -I would personally choose a different synth for the intro -Moving into the heavy guitars in the chorus is a cool effect -Like the mixed use of acoustic guitar and heavy grungy guitar -Bridge is an awesome change of pace from the chorus and verse -Overall I think the song sounds good, and has some really great elements such as the vocal phrasing, change of rhythms, awesome guitar solo, and cool instrumentation. For me, however, it lacks a certain wow factor that have made me think so many of the other songs I’ve heard sound great, which is why I think this is just good for me.

Keep Your Pants On (7.5/10) -Love the heavy opening -Reminds me of Hash-Pipe just a little bit in the beginning (which is awesome) -Vocal melodies in the verse sound great -Due to how heavy the verse is, the chorus doesn’t have that huge sound I expected -I was also expecting some higher register vocals in the chorus -Overall I think the song has potential to be great, the only thing I would would like to hear at this point is an altered vocal melody in the chorus to pull me in a bit more.

You’re Going To Miss Me When I’m Gone (6.5/10) -Love the dreamy lead guitar in the verse -Vocal melody in the chorus didn’t quite do it for me, but in the second half of chorus it pulled me in a bit more in the higher register -Nice change of pace from the heavier songs -The acoustic guitars sound great and I like the subtle backing from the heavier guitar near the end of the song

Foolish Father (9/10) -Love the feedback in the opening -The guitar effect building into the chorus sounds great -The chorus sounds awesome, vocal melody is really catchy, I dig it -Half time drums with guitar line in the bridge sounds so killer -Love the dark verse into a bit of a lighter chorus -Overall I really dig the sound of this one

Bye Bye Birdie (7/10) -Love the guitar riff in the verse -Very interesting and different sound from other tracks -Dig the chiller vibe of this song -Maybe a slight alteration in the vocal melody (either in register or different pitches) would pull me in a bit more -I like the vocal phrasing in the chorus -Bridge pulls me away from the vibe of the song a bit

Gravity Will Bring You Down (6.5/10) -Love the light intro into heavy verse, really cool -I dig the wah effect on the lead guitar in the verse -I love the driving feel of this song -Vocal melody in the chorus felt a little predictable to me -The high energy in this song really pulls me in

Let’s Get Married (7/10) -Guitars sound really big in the verse, I dig it -Verse builds really well -The chorus doesn’t have the pull as much as the verse did for me -The guitar solo in the bridge is awesome -The vocal melody in the chorus when imitated by the guitar at the end is awesome

Round and Around (6.5/10) -Driving beat in the verse really pulls me in -Pre-chrous sounds awesome -Chorus felt a bit predictable and the vocal melody didn’t pull me in like it did in the verse/pre-chorus -Bridge is a great break between chorus, I dig the vocal melody here

Subjective (7/10) -Love the synth in the opening, works well with the guitars -Feels like a modern take on a 90’s punk song, I love it -I feel like the vocal phrasing in the chorus could be changed a bit to pull me more -Bridge/Breakdown section works really well in this song -Feels like an awesome outro song to an album -Great pump up song

Volunteers (7/10) -The acoustic guitar in the verse sounds awesome, love the riff -The build in the vocals in the chorus is awesome -Would love hear a quicker vocal line in the chorus to see how that sounded -Vocals sound great

I’ll Be With Someone Else (6/10) -The vocal masking with the guitars is a cool effect -I feel like there could be a bit more variation between the verse and chorus -The guitar riff at the end of the bridge section is great -This song didn’t have the same pull for me as some of the other tracks have

Gallery

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See also

• Everything Will Be Alright in the End

External links

• justpaste [dot] it/6lhwn — Original text