Sounds good as always, but it does not stand out that much. The drums are a bit too loud. Apart from that, I don't have much to criticize here. It's just not very memorable, at least not after the first few listens. My favorite songs by you from this year's Nur Ein were "Your Light No Longer Shines" and "Watertight" (that one was really cute).

I like the idea. The drums are too 3-4db too loud. I think I pulled a slight of hand with the vocal harmonies...this one doesn't hold up quite as well without them. I spent most of my time recording drums in the pro studio this weekend, getting ready for the next record. This mix/song suffered, and that's alright.

Former Champion

I might as well admit, this was the one I didn't recognize the sample(s) from. I figured it was either that piano or the trumpet, and when it turned out to be both, that didn't surprise me either. I guess you caught one of my blind spots. 🙂  No complaint about the challenge implementation or pieces chosen - the fact that I didn't recognize them at first was irrelevant to my judging process. So, onto the song... The jangly guitar works for me. That combined with the nostalgic lyrics create a strong impression of R.E.M. Not what I would have expected from you, but it works really well here! I'm a bit confused about your structure - it feels like there's most of one song, then two really short unrelated sections. It's pretty clear you meant that to be some kind of epic ending, but to my ears it comes out as disjointed, and one that runs long. So let's see, it's Verse, chorus, verse, chorus, sample/solo, bridge, coda. Something is just structurally out of joint there, making these disparate parts sound unsatisfyingly incomplete to me. Maybe if it had circled back to one more verse or chorus? Or maybe if the sample/solo had happened earlier? I don't know, I enjoyed this a lot, and found it more rewarding on subsequent listens, but I can't help but wonder whether some less risky structural decisions might have pushed this over the top.

Sadly you brought the weak of the week. It's the feeling I have since the first listen. After several listens I think is because drums: the volume would not be a problem if they had been touched (or retouched) more accurately, especially the last snare hit at the end of measure (syncopated). Sounds too close to the next downbeat, also sounds at the same volume of the snare on beats 2 and 4. I guess it should be a ghost note, phantom punch or perhaps directly, not be. That hit brings a lot to unbalance the rhythm of the song. and has a lot of guilt that the drums are perceived with excessive volume. I think the "disengaged thing" feeling transmitted by the remaining parts comes entirely from that drums problem. The song, on the other hand, has not killed me.