Hi Kafla,
first of all kudos to you for posting a raw take of an idea, with video... I could never do that
sounds really good though, it shows off the songs feeling, and yet leaves room for interpretation...
I very much liked the change in chord progression after the first half of each verse - caught me by surprise but sounds cool - always a good combination.
The "get higher..." part of the chorus is REALLY catchy, you're definitely on to something with that!
As for your specific questions:
- I'm not sure what you mean with 'bridge', I'm personally hearing two verses, a pre-chorus and a chorus. I don't think it takes too long to get to the latter though. However, as I mentioned, the chorus is really damn catchy, so I think it might sound cool if you put one of these "get higher..." parts inbetween the two verses, completely stripped down and calmer, just as a little foreshadowing for what's to come.
- Yes, the chorus/prechorus worked brilliantly for me, top marks here.
- That's kind of my personal default structure as well, I think it would work for this.
- If you've got something left to say that you think NEEDS to be in the song, then go for the middle 8. But it's your song and most importantly you have to be comfortable with and 100% convinced of the structure, so I guess you've already answered that question yourself ;-)
- What kind of sound: always a difficult question... I like Monty's idea with the church organ a lot.
If it where me doing the song, I'd probably go for acoustic guitar, subtle percussion and a church or hammond organ in the verses (and that short chorus section between the verses with just vocals and a single guitar strum)
Then for (what I hear as) the prechorus that wall-of-sound thing you mentioned, with LOTS of background vocals and ooohs, maybe strings, really widening up the stereo field.
And for the chorus itself go back to just acoustic guitar(s), vut more aggressive (like you did in the video)and really loud drums, I feel this part has the biggest impact of the song...
Well, you asked
Anyway, to sum it up, YES, please do keep pursuing this song, lots of potential here!!
Looking forward to read what the other members think and suggest for this, and of course to the finished song
Michael