Quick, Before It Melts.

Do you remember the first record you ever bought? Not some cheesy compilation record you bought because it had your favourite song at the time on it, but the first honest-and-truly record by a band . Do you remember how it felt when you listened to it for the first time? When you heard all the tracks in succession, the singles you knew and the album tracks that were fresh to your ears, and you suddenly looked at the artist in a whole new light, in a way that you never got from the songs on the radio alone--remember that?

One listen to Today Is Tonight, the debut album from Chicago's The Changes, and you'll remember that feeling, that rush. The Changes have crafted a song cycle best described as a journey through a day in the life of happiness and sadness, love and longing, misery and miracles, epiphanies and epitaphs. Opening track "When I Wake" bounces you up out of bed and into the melodic and intoxicating of this quartet's polished and dynamic sound. 12 tracks later, as "When I Sleep" closes out the day's journey, you've experienced a band whose not tied to a style or sound, but rather allow each track to grow and develop in the way it needs to.

The band themselves say that their sound is the result of all members working "like scientists" where "everyone's idea counts" when it comes to interpreting Dave Rothblatt's songwriting (he also plays guitar and sings). The results of our intrepid scientists' experiments are like beakers and test tubes frothing over with jangly guitars driving home sing-along melodies, propelled by keyboards (contributed by all members) that bounce, skip and soar. The Changes are pure classic pop, yet each track reveals a little something else about their personalities and influences. You hear the Morrissey and Marr influences almost instantly, but around the next corner is some white-bred reggae that could come from either the Clash or The Police. You'll be convinced you're back in the 80s at the height of alternative New Wave pop.

They are not the new wave of New Wave, though--The Changes are the real deal. They sound as if they are a part of the genre that inspired and influenced today's New Wave artists, rather than one of the current crop of New Wave pretenders. As the only unsigned act asked to play at Lollapalooza '05, they've had to deal with the pressures of expectation, and have delivered an album worthy of the accolades being given them. It will be the first of many Changes albums you will buy, because Today Is Tonight is, quite simply, exceptional.

The Changes are: Darren Spitzer, Dave Rothblatt, Rob Kallick and Jonny Basofin.

[MP3] The Changes "When I Wake" (from Today Is Tonight, 2006)

[MP3] The Changes "On A String" (from Today Is Tonight, 2006)

[MP3] The Changes "In The Dark" (from Today Is Tonight, 2006)

[Pre-order The Changes' Today Is Tonight here]
[Find more mp3s at the Hype Machine!]