Doug Bleek “Inner Demon”

24 Jul 2015 — Henry Schiller

The bass groove on "Inner Demon" might be the first 4-second loop of music to ever psychologically dominate my entire summer, so ceaseless is its almost perfect infectuousness. This sly dance track from New York multi-instrumentalist Doug Bleek is not without its NFOP-worthy weirdness, either: the lyrics seem to be premised around literally becoming someone's inner demon, an escalation of the forthright sexuality of Miguel that I wish we were getting more of. Bleek's knifepoint vocals hang taught against guitars that whip through the track with a glee that could only be chalked up to a degree of insanity. At 2:04 is a melody for which this track deserves to be pinned to the frontpage of the blog for the rest of the summer. At the center of "Inner Demon" is a guitar solo that channels Prince's ability to grandstand without ever feeling didactic: it's not teaching you a lesson about fun, it's just joining in. 

"Inner Demon" is an absolute blast. Smart without being too heady, and a nice (and rare) reminder that yes, you can make fun, danceable pop songs with "rock band" instruments. This, dear readers, is how you write a pop song on a guitar.