The Changes (Drama Club Records)
Chicago sound engineer Chris Brickley, who has worked with R. Kelly (
R) and Wilco (
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot), has made Chicago newcomers the Changes' debut full-length,
Today Is Tonight, squeaky-clean and dripping with sugar. (It also happens to be the debut album for local label Drama Club, headed by Matt Morgus and Shannon Schlappi.) Though it mostly recalls something between early, upbeat Police and the early, twee Belle and Sebastian, and even though the ultrasmooth production causes the album to lag toward the end, the band covers diverse musical ground. Opening track "When I Wake" brings to mind the image of a spiky-haired Sting bouncing around a music-video set. The feel flows into the bell-tinged pop of "On a String," which is more akin to a toned-down version of Boy Least Likely To. Standout track "Twilight" rides a heavy disco beat, yet, like the majority of the songs on this well-crafted, sweet album, it stays on the right side of the line between fun and annoying.
— April Fleming
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