dont get me started on dont get me started badumtss

umm okay

dont get me started... i was really excited for this one when i heard it live, the synth line was so crunchy and groovy and the bridge made me ascend a bit, energetic, and made me want to dance around

i start listening, and i'm met with thom's overproduced voice which is what i feared, but have come to expect with the smile releases. but i was shocked by how smoothed out it sounded. i think the autotune (?) is a little worse than most previous releases. also tell me why i'm hearing his voice echoing after for like 5 seconds was it necessary. but at least it isn't completely drowned out and muffled by reverb.. until later in the song. 

the individual instruments and thom's voice sound kind of isolated from each other as per usual with the smile songs lately, i just have no sense of environment....  and it feels like it with this one too.

the most stark part of this is the complete lack of energy from the live. its insane. the "you dont get me" part is extra underwhelming and.. empty. make the fuzzy bass part louder and punchier!!! start yelling!!! the bridge is missing a lot from the live too, which is so disappointing, it was kind of ethereal . but maybe i could appreciate the more subdued nature of it, the chirping noises? but im not really going to put effort into liking this one.
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the slip! groovy and fun, back with the synths again. but then thom's voice comes in and i Pause. it's so smoothed out and sanitized and autotuned. there isnt a crap ton of reverb though which i'm grateful for

but i like this one better! it's poppy (good) and boppy, playful. it doesn't remind me of anything the smile related at all, its a fun change. it's kind of weirdly Normal sounding but whatever i'll take it over the other song

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i've honestly been bothered by the production style since alfaa, to the point that i couldnt listen to it for months after it was released because i was so let down i couldnt enjoy it until november 2022. to be fair though, im overly sensitive to this stuff, even certain post in rainbows songs bother me a little. so..... this is to say that im sad its getting worse :-(  .. well at least that's from what ive heard. tbh i havent listened to alfaa in a while, so i cant compare, but if i remember correctly thats probably true