Changing Modes

Changing Modes’ ‘In Flight’ album has a bit of a soft pop slant to it. It sounds very safe and uncomplicated from the band but its veiled complexity is, in fact, a testament to the New York City based band’s mastery of their craft. Listeners will appreciate their ability to produce songs that are easy to swallow whilst not exuding amateurish plainness. Arrangements can be a bit stupefying as they refuse to adhere to any conventional linearity and the melodic nature springs from an overindulgence of instrumentation and the manner in which they play them.

Compositions are ideally short in length – at least for those, including myself, with shorter attention spans. Still, each 2-3 minute composition manages to deliver on the punchiness and artistic abstruseness of the band’s thought-inspiring messages. Changing Modes often demand that you consider what they’re relaying by repeating their one-lined communications - for example, within tracks like ‘Ghost in the Backseat’ and ‘Knock Once’ – and though there may be a definite meaning within the minds of the band members, lyrics are open to personal interpretation.

Describing themselves as art-rockers, Changing Modes’ wistful 80s punk rock stylings, which hare occasionally spiced up by the infusion of other musical genres - combine the zest of new wave energy with catchy instrumentation and playful, rather than distastefully recalcitrant opinions. On the whole, what this means for these experimenters is that ‘In Flight’ has a multidimensional appeal that will no doubt bring in a lot of unexpected punters.