4 out of 5

Label: Artist Direct / BMG

Produced by: Mellowdrone

Despite being totally front-loaded with goodness, this is a rare example of a selection of songs that survive that front-loading because of god damned double-god damned good they are.  We used to play this EP incessantly at Tower and as soon as the first tracks would drop, we would inevitably sell some copies.  Later albums (and Big Black Delta) would prove front-man Jonathan Bates’ pop-rock mastery, but the earlier MellowD EPs are a bit scattershot with amazing singles and then good songs that just don’t feel complete.  The split on ‘Demonstration’ is pretty severe – after the third track – but that doesn’t mean the latter half of the EP is bad, just nowhere near as polished.  Last track Bitelip is particularly catchy, again, you just have some sequencing and editing hiccups; whereas the first three songs all lead into one another, the remaining songs seem to start up suddenly and cut out early.  But oh well.  I remain unfazed in that rating: Demonstration is short and sweet enough to survive its imbalances, and the ‘imbalance’ is really just relative to how good the beginning is.  Expect an early Radiohead vibe in terms of the drizzle of prettiness atop soaring guitars, but add in more willingness to rock out, less crooning, and snarkier lyrics.