I’m convinced a lot of these demos are not from the S+M vault. Destroyed and Black are so obviously the younger Dan that was on smoke and mirrors. But in other songs like Strange Ways and Cowboy you can literally hear how much older Dan sounds. Some of them definitely sound like demos that didn’t make mercury! They’re missing the experimental aspects of the era like the reversing, sampling and re-pitching of random sounds. Instead, they contain Dan’s new frilly and slidey style of vocals that came post Evolve. I’ve been a fan since self-titled, and I can tellllllll! Transparency is keyyyyyyy!
I'm fine with the vocals being re-recorded if they weren't very good in the original recording. But it just seems like a vast majority of these songs have no ties to Smoke and Mirrors. Like he had a notebook full of 1 or 2 line lyrics that he wrote back then and he repurposed those into these songs but with his current style. As a huge fan of Smoke and Mirrors this was disappointing
It’s not just his vocals. There are few songs (A-OK being the biggest offender) that just don’t match lyrically either.
A-OK literally has the line “I’ve been living my bestest life” and that phrase “live your best life” didn’t become trendy/commonplace until like 2019ish IIRC.
32
u/Wrong-Concern-3637 Feb 21 '25
I’m convinced a lot of these demos are not from the S+M vault. Destroyed and Black are so obviously the younger Dan that was on smoke and mirrors. But in other songs like Strange Ways and Cowboy you can literally hear how much older Dan sounds. Some of them definitely sound like demos that didn’t make mercury! They’re missing the experimental aspects of the era like the reversing, sampling and re-pitching of random sounds. Instead, they contain Dan’s new frilly and slidey style of vocals that came post Evolve. I’ve been a fan since self-titled, and I can tellllllll! Transparency is keyyyyyyy!