Changing Modes

Artist Information

Biography

CHANGING MODES
Wendy Griffiths: Vocals, Keyboards, Bass
Yuzuru Sadashige: Bass, Guitar
Jen Rondeau: Vocals, Keyboards, Theremin
Grace Pulliam: Vocals, Percussion, Keyboards
David Oromaner: Drums, Trumpet, Vocals

The music of New York City based rock band Changing Modes began quietly in the mid-90’s when the principal songwriter of the band, Wendy Griffiths (keyboards, voice) started making her “bedroom tapes.” She says she had no intention of making these songs public. “They were like art songs with very unusual rock beats,” Yuzuru Sadashige (bass, guitar) recalls. “She programmed very complex layers of accompaniment in her Yamaha SY77, then sang along to record onto her $30 Sears tape recorder, very LoFi, you would hear house noise and car horns in the background, but they were extremely interesting and totally unique.”

Since then the band has released four albums and two EPs and have been actively performing their strangely catchy and complex music in New York, Chicago, Boston and D.C.

David Oromaner (drums, trumpet) joined the band in 2003. Jen Rondeau (vocals, theremin, keyboards) and Grace Pulliam (vocals, percussion, keyboards) joined the band in 2009.

The band has performed alongside The Ditty Bops, Brandi Carlile, Howie Day and King Missile.

Instrumentation

Wendy Griffiths: keyboards, vocals
Yuzuru Sadashige: bass, guitar
Jen Rondeau: Theremin, keyboards, vocals
Grace Pulliam: vocals, percussion
David Oromaner, drums, percussion, trumpet

Discography

IN FLIGHT (2012)
HERE (April 2010)
DOWN AND OUT IN SHANGRI-LA (April 2008)
AEROPLANE (May 2005)
A PERFECT DAY (August 2003)
CHANGING MODES EP2 (2001)
CHANGING MODES EP1 (2000)

Links

• Facebook
• Last.fm
• Twitter
• MySpace
• Reverbnation

Audio

• Cell to Cell (2010)
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• Moles (2010)
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• One (2010)
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• Shangri-la (2008)
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• Ship (2008)
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• Gate~He Walks in Darkness (2008)
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• Aeroplane (from "Aeroplane" released 2005)
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• Arnold (from "Aeroplane" released 2005, this is an excerpt of 7 minute song)
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• Race the Wave
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• Golden Temple (from "A Perfect Day" released 2003)
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• Get Up (from "Aeroplane" released 2005)
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• Diving Bell
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Lyrics

• Aeroplane
• Get Up
• Arnold
• Golden Temple
• Shangri-la
• One

Video

"ONE" - Changing Modes

Cell2Cell_121610.mov

Photo Gallery

Press

• A Classic From the 80s – Or From Right Now? [+ Show ]
  

  If this band had been around in the 80s and had recorded this album then – an era it easily could da...If this band had been around in the 80s and had recorded this album then – an era it easily could date from, had the band members not been in diapers or not yet born – it would be a cult classic today, and they would be packing clubs full of kids younger than they are now. On their fourth cd, Here, New York art-rockers Changing Modes leap from one radically dissimilar style to another with gusto, guile and a tunefulness that won’t quit. Blending classical flourishes, punk energy, playful and clever lyrics that draw on 80s new wave and a ubiquitous element of surprise, every time you think you’ve got them figured out, they drop something new on you. They have two first-rate lead singers and one of them plays the theremin – in a way that’s not cheesy or precious. The songs here, most of them clocking in at barely three minutes apiece, evoke such diverse acts as Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Adverts, Captain Beefheart, Pamelia Kurstin and the Go-Go’s.
  
  Ironically, the simplest song on the album is the best – and it might be the best song any band has released this year. Moles, about the “mole people” living deep in the bowels of the New York City subway, is a scampering, ridiculously catchy, jaggedly sinister punk/new wave hit: “Your life underground is not what it seems, it’s worse than your strangest nightmares and better than your wildest dreams.” It goes out on Yuzuru Sadashige’s screaming, off-kilter reverb guitar crescendo, straight out of the Doctors of Madness playbook. The Great Beyond takes a pensive pop ballad and sends it tumbling into the abyss with some ominous Bernard Herrmann atmospherics, while the title track evokes Siouxsie with its eerie, lo-fi organ and skronky guitar – and a stark, classically-tinged piano bridge that comes out of nowhere but makes a perfect fit.
  
  Bookended with a handful of lolcat string synth flourishes, Louise is singer/keyboardist Wendy Griffiths’ stomping powerpop tribute to a furry friend: love ultimately conquers all. Scratchy new wave/punk-pop, like the Cars with a college degree, Cell to Cell features a bizarre, noisy guitar solo from Sadashige, Beefheart as played by PiL’s Keith Levene, maybe. The rest of the album includes an uneasy, ornate ballad sung with effortless, soaring abandon by theremin player Jen Rondeau; a blistering ska-punk number; a playful new wave pop tune with a theremin solo, and a couple of jaunty vaudevillian numbers, one possibly about the evils of gentrification, the other a sarcastic sendup of catty drama queens. Count this among the half-dozen or so best albums of 2010 so far.

• The ever changing music of "Changing Modes" [+ Show ]
  

  Many people are locked into one musical era, genre or type. Too bad too, because those people will ...Many people are locked into one musical era, genre or type. Too bad too, because those people will always miss out on music that is truly interesting and innovative. If you thought you had my love of pop music pegged by reading or listening to the music reviewed here so far, then hold on to your hats! Enter Changing Modes and their 2010 CD, Here. Changing Modes isn't your average pop or rock band. Their influences range from progressive rock to modern rock, jazz and classical. While the bulk of this review highlights the talents of the vocalists and major instrumentalists, not enough can be said for the roles of David Oromander (drums, vocals, trumpet) and Grace Pulliam (vocals, percussion) who add all the right touches throughout. There is more to hear than one listen will allow, because there is so much going on. Whether you are mesmerized by the sometimes haunting vocals and harmonies, intrigued with the instrumentation or just taken away by the lyrics, you'll find many things worth discovering Here.
  
  
  Dissonance is used throughout Here's title track and opener, a song about being in physical or mental distress and looking for a way out. Band co-leader, Wendy Griffiths, (keyboards, vocals) sounds alternately like Grace Slick, Chrissie Hynde or Kate Bush, depending on the moment in the song. The music adds an appropriate haunting urgency to the lyrics. Here too is some magical guitar work from the other co-leader of Changing Modes, Yuzuru Sadashige (bass, guitar). The interplay between the vocals and instrumentals really kicks in when the Theramin is included.
  
  
  Here's theme is dissonant and haunting, and Moles is its counterpoint, revving up the speed and kicking it up a notch. It's the kind of song that wants your feet to move, even if the song's lyrics are about mole people in New York City who live in the subway tunnels. Wendy sings "But your life underground, is not what it seems, it's worse than your strangest nightmare and better than your wildest dreams" in the chorus, but that is just one of the images painted here. You'll need to listen carefully to hear them all.
  
  
  Louise introduces Jen Hammaker (Theremin, keyboard) on lead vocal in a whimsical song about Wendy's cat, which is just plain fun! "What goes on behind those dark eyes? Where do you go when I turn out the light?" Not only is there a lot going on here instrumentally, but the backing vocals and harmonies are incredible too, with a truly interesting shift from major to minor key and back again.
  
  And There's so much more! Cell to Cell is another fun toe tapper that explores carrying on a relationship via text messaging. Distorted guitar adds interesting texture here that gives it a very punkish feel. Embers Sweet has an almost "Yes" feel to it, if "Yes" were fronted by female vocals that is. It definitely has that progressive rock edge to it. A favorite track for me is the poppy, electronicly noodled One, which describes an obsession with lines like You are the One, you are the one. White Lightning, again with Jen Hammaker, is a jazzy number with great trumpet fill from Oromander. The White Room, sounds initially like a cover of Cream's White Room. When I asked Wendy about this, however, she assured me that "It's more of an homage to the Cream song than a cover." It is a delightful changeup that explores sleazy politicians and their abuse of power. Closing out the set is Meow Situation which has a swing piano feel that ends things on a light-hearted note.
  
  
  Writing this review, I've been afraid that after listening to these tracks so many times, they would start to wear thin; They don't. If anything, you begin to hear more nuances and textures that were hidden from your ears on the first listen. Changing Modes deserves grand recognition for a diverse, haunting and playful set of music. Instrumentation and vocals are accomplished and fun to listen to and the lyrics are deceptively simple in their complexity and entirely singable. Formed in the mid-90's by a happenstance invitation to CBGB's, Wendy Griffiths was pried away from her classical practice room, to hear the band Soul Coughing with a friend. It occurred to her on that night that she really missed the world of rock; "How that music hits you in the gut, which, as much as I love classical music, the concert music never quite does; At least not for me." She came back to her room later that night and began to write rock songs, and has never turned back. We are the beneficiaries of this epiphany, and Here is just one of those gifts.

• CHANGING MODES – Down And Out in Shangri-La [+ Show ]
  

  CHANGING MODES – Down And Out in Shangri-La (self release) – A discerning mix of Dresden Dolls drama...CHANGING MODES – Down And Out in Shangri-La (self release) – A discerning mix of Dresden Dolls drama, Todd Rundgren flavoured complexity and something that leans towards a more traditional neo-prog sound. Wendy Griffiths has a voice to rival Amanda Palmer, those stylish keyboards and that song construction make it hard to avoid the obvious Dresden Dolls comparison – we make it in a positive way. Changing Modes are clearly an ambitious band, they’re from New York, they have some delightful slices of genuinely chewy progressive awkwardness in there with their very listenable blend of constantly shifting sometimes demanding earfood.

• Changing Modes - Down and Out in Shangri-La [+ Show ]
  

  New York band Changing Modes delivers their third album with a bang. Volcanic, energetic, and someti...New York band Changing Modes delivers their third album with a bang. Volcanic, energetic, and sometimes full throttle, Down and Out in Shangri-La moves beyond the avant garde, art rock sound of the band’s previous records. Using long guitar riffs combined with lead singer Camille Atkinson’s powerful voice, Down and Out in Shangri-La provides electricity in tracks like “Shangri-La” and “Vital Signs.”
  
  Changing Modes are nothing like New York’s other newly famous art rock band, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The arrangement and affected voice in the opening track, “Off the Radar,” is more reminiscent of the B-52s because of its high energy vocals and kitschy '80s inspired background. And that’s just the first song. Because on another song, Changing Modes does just that. They change their method and mode. “No Fly Zone” has a Sleater Kinney feel to it, and on “Ship,” Changing Modes goes for broke and scores a big song, calling up Ann Wilson and Heart.
  
  Lyrically, Changing Modes bring in outer space, dying, environmentalism, and the ideas of heaven and hell. In “Someone Anyone” one of the lines is: "You know all the lines at suicides and fancy dinners/wrap it up with some attitude." Down and Out in Shrangi-La is a chameleon, blending in and out with different styles, singers, and eras. This is one band that can thrash a stadium crowd or seduce a small club. One thing remains clear though; they have brought New York edginess back to rock music.

• Changing Modes-Aeroplane
  

  ... an ambitious work, straying across genres.

• Changing Modes - Aeroplane [+ Show ]
  

  ..sheer weirdness of throwing off-kilter timings and strange progressions into something that seems .....sheer weirdness of throwing off-kilter timings and strange progressions into something that seems to want to be accessible pop... share a lot of sound with some of the progressive rock greats

• Changing Modes - Aeroplane
  

  ...CM is pretty damn fun!

• Changing Modes - Aeroplane
  

  All the songs of Aeroplane has a fun and quirky even memorable feel to each of them.

• Changing Modes-Aeroplane [+ Show ]
  

  Their latest, “Aeroplane,” is just more Great stuff like their last Album.  And with Wendy (Griffith...Their latest, “Aeroplane,” is just more Great stuff like their last Album.  And with Wendy (Griffiths)’s organ permeating through almost Every tune, it just make all of this that Much more delicious. Progressive Power Pop. We love it.

• Changing Modes [+ Show ]
  

  This band defies being lumped into a neatly compartmentalized genre...Changing Modes have great prom...This band defies being lumped into a neatly compartmentalized genre...Changing Modes have great promise.

• Changing Modes-A Perfect Day [+ Show ]
  

  Harmonic girlie vocals cavort with a sound ranging from boppin’ hillbilly ditties to nearly ethereal...Harmonic girlie vocals cavort with a sound ranging from boppin’ hillbilly ditties to nearly ethereal ballads. Changing Modes plays category hopscotch. Fizzy and fun, you’ll be tapping your foot in no time.

• Changing Modes-A Perfect Day
  

  Great sound and great lyrics. Ton o'fun! Danceable music like B-52's with very creative words.

• Changing Modes-A Perfect Day
  

  A great addition to the infamous Anti-Folk scene in NY.

• Changing Modes at North River Music [+ Show ]
  

  The climax of the program switches gear to Rock. Changing Modes ... performed their song collections...The climax of the program switches gear to Rock. Changing Modes ... performed their song collections, energetic ... amazing, great fun (I love the lyrics)

Setlist

Typically, 40-45 minute set includes about 16 songs.

1. Ear
2. Aeroplane
3. Traces of you
4. No Fly Zone
5. Blue
6. Tomorow Never Comes
7. Gate/He Walks in Darkness
8. Sideshow Friends & Movie Stars
9. Pretty Vacant
10. Chain Lightning
11. Get Up
12. Great
13. Two Steps Down
14. Ear
15. Golden temple
16. Blue Light

Changing Modes plays original materials, but occasionally does cover songs, usually 1 or 2 songs per show.

Basic Requirements

Calendar