Final verdict: ???
Hey, look at me! I’m back in the trenches! Back in the trenches of reviewing whatever music tickles my literary fancy, that is. And since I released a new demo tape this last Friday, I thought, might as well, you know? Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I possess free will! I am (for better or for worse) a sentient being with thoughts and wants and needs! And reviewing my own music falls into that third category right there – it is a “need,” a crippling, disgusting, primitive need. I already did it with my 3rd LP “The Forbidden Resort Chronicles” when it first landed, so what the hell, here we go again.
So, “2025 Demo Tape: ‘Demonstration EP’” – my first real demo tape, containing 4 yet-unreleased songs that I’ve cooked up over the course of the last year. Two of them will land on my upcoming 4th studio album, while the other two are only there for shits and giggles. The people who frequent my live shows will have surely heard all four of them, as they are setlist staples of mine. The people who frequent my live shows might even have gotten themselves a limited-edition CD of this demo from my merch stand – the question is, have you?
That’s enough of a sales pitch – let’s talk music. The songs that made the cut to debut on “Demonstration EP” are part of a wider musical world – a shitty non-interactive ARG, if you may call it that. So not an ARG at all. Fuck. Let’s try that again.
All four tracks are part of the narrative presented in my upcoming 4th studio album (yes, it is real!), which was constructed around themes of mental illness, addiction, bearing a horrible fucking personality, friendship, teenage romances (a sector I had profoundly skewed experiences in), and the ephemerality of all things. Yes, I have problems to be channeled into art. And I also have problems to be channeled into debauchery. Man, I’m fucked up.
“Strawberry Skies” was derived from my horrible lived experience as a high school senior. Every morning, I’d be walking to school well before sunrise, thinking about how unfair life was and how I couldn’t wait to fucking die… but then the sun rose, giving way to bright, rose-colored – “strawberry,” if you will – skies. I found that to be a beautiful sight that gave me a semblance of joy and comfort for a split second, before I inevitably landed my sorry ass in 8am algebra class. This is a sentiment I carry into my – much more fulfilling, for what it’s worth – early adulthood. I still enjoy watching the sunrise, and my heart still flutters a little at the sight of a dazzling pink sky. “Strawberry Skies” might sound like an ode to the sunset, but I’m really not that type of fellow – I am more of morning person and I find the sunrise to be a lot more spiritually significant, as it marks the birth of a new day, almost like a new chance at life. It’s the human mind’s “reset button,” come to think about it. But let me not get all that sentimental…
“Nineteen” is the offspring of an unlikely circumstance; you see, there are many great songs about turning 16, turning 17, turning 18… but there was no coming-of-age work about turning 19 that was satisfactory to my ear (though I’ve since been introduced to “19 GROWING UP” by Japanese girl band Princess Princess – shoutout to the friend who put me onto that, what a tune!). So, a few months before I turned 19, I thought I’d make it up to myself by writing a lullaby to celebrate my then-upcoming birthday. It’s quite simple in both concept and execution – my relentless study of Bach’s polyphonic works certainly influenced the composition of “Nineteen,” an inspiration that I hope is prominent in the final product. This was the theme song of my 19th birthday, which was this August. It’s definitely the most light-hearted piece to appear in this demo, and probably the most light-hearted one in this album’s world at large. Good times, man, good times.
“I’ll Remember September” is a love letter to trains, conceived during a particularly eventful train ride that I will not detail here, for my parents are both subscribed to my newsletter and probably reading this. Sorry, mom and dad! Though a serial oversharer, I do have to maintain some degree of dignity here. I do, however, plan on elaborating on the whole train thing in another article in the future, so look forward to that, I guess.
“Cherry Stompers” is a sibling track to “Κρυστάλλινο Σπίτι” off “The Forbidden Resort Chronicles” – as a matter of fact, “Cherry Stompers” was an early version of “Κρυστάλλινο Σπίτι” that I deemed too happy-go-lucky for that rather grim project; it was thus scrapped and re-composed from the ground up. But this early draft was cute, y’know? I felt compelled to give it the ol’ rework treatment and release it somewhere – so I polished it up and gave it a small-scale platform right here, on “Demonstration EP.” No need to thank me, and no need to forsake me either. No need to fiddle with a man who’s got it all figured out.
Overall, this rough-around-the-edges – nay, straight jagged – EP is not so much a release that is in itself significant. It is but a short-and-sweet teaser for what’s to come – I wanted to give my audience something to hold onto while waiting for the main event, that is, the full-length album. It is coming soon, I promise! I will consistently update this website and my social media with updates, so keep an eye out for that; until then, I thank you for your keen interest in my work. As with my review of my “The Forbidden Resort Chronicles,” I do believe it would be distasteful to assign a numerical rating to my own release. I’m not that full of shit, okay? And besides, I cannot gas up or tear down my own record – it is like a child to me! You can’t tell your children they’re awesome because that will lead them down a path of lifelong scumminess, but you also can’t call them ugly and spit in their face, no matter how ugly they may in fact be. You always have to stay neutral. Shower them with parental love, yes, but don’t go overboard. Dancing around language; that’s the virtue quality parenting is based upon.
For the record, I do not have any children. I was, however, once a child, so I know what I’m saying, fo sho.
Silia 
Leave a comment