Begins with some synthetic electric guitar, clearly echoing the reference tracks. Quickly after some 80s synths join the fray. The very first section has 2 parallel melodies going on, the higher pitched one on the left ear is a bit hard to follow (although they start doing unison after a bit). There's drums as well with some samples that, uh, aren't the most sophisticated. The mixing isn't helping either, the snare has no smack, no reverb, it's very dry and dull. There's also a bass marking the root notes of each section, not particularly interesting writing though as it mostly seems to be playing whole notes. Some strings join the background at 0:30 and then a flute around 0:40. I dig the effects you applied to the flute. This section is more focused in terms of melody. At 0:50 we get some string arpeggios and here it kinda feels like everyone in the band just started going off on their own, the parts don't seem to have a clear focus. There's some interesting sound design for the transition at 1:25 to what I assume is the chorus. I love this part! It's way more focused, with one clear melody highlight. The pad in the background also creates a really nice contrast. 2:10 is some sort of "out of chorus" transition but it sounds a tad, um, sloppy? Like, the bass stops playing after the first note, the drums do like half a fill, it's just a bit odd. There's a break after with some epiano focus, not the most sophisticated samples here either. The band eventually rejoins and we continue on a vibe similar to the first minute and a half. This goes on for a bit until the track ends.

I think this one is still on an "early" state, both arrangement and production feel undercooked. On arrangement, there's a clear lack of focus for the first minute and a half, a ton of stuff going on at the same time but nothing really guiding the arrangement anywhere. Chorus is great but it's kind of a shame it only plays once. I also feel the writing in some parts is fairly uninspired, with the bass being the main culprit. In tracks like these, bass (along drums) has the role of carrying the rhytm, but here it's just doing a "harmonic role" of letting the listener know what's the root note of each chord. On production, my main issue is actually related to what I just wrote, both bass and drums feel kind of like afterthoughts. In both reference tracks there's a big driving rhytm carrying the track, here the bass is very low in the mix and has no grit at all. Drums are louder but the sounds are dull, no drive, no snap, no sparkle. As a result, the track actually ends up sounding a tad empty. Sample quality is also very uneven, the main guitar synth is extremely fake for example (although this could be intentional, but I don't dig the sound much tbh). Other synths range from fine to meh (the epiano sound is the most meh one IMO and it's completely isolated in the break).

Overall, this feels like a demo of what could turn out as a very fun track. The vibe you're going for is great, the references track are fun, you just need to cook more. Parts like the awesome chorus show the potential you have here!

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