Single Review: Changes

This is not a cover of the well-known Black Sabbath number, but instead it is a song written by the band with lyrics by singer Jel; about a close friend losing her partner to cancer, and with the inspiration for the lyrics coming from her memoirs. The rest of the band are Aaron Ludlow (guitar), Andy van der Heyden (bass) and Corey Bell (drums), and over the last ten years Curlys Jewels have built a deserved reputation as one of our most melodic and powerful rock bands and that is yet again what we have here. There is a poignant delicacy through this, with Jel providing the right amount of emotion to bring the listener right in while the arrangement is also designed to move us through ups and downs.

Jel’s vocals are always the focal point, but the accompaniment moves from slow-tempo rock to something with soaring keyboards and dynamics where Jel’s vocals can rise, at another we get acoustic guitars and simplicity and yet another a nicely delivered guitar solo. This is a work of depth from a band confident in their ability to produce something which is not only a homage to a friend lost, but also able to stand on its own as a powerful piece of work even if listeners are unaware of the back story. It is an earworm which really gets into the brain, with production and performance which turns it into an anthem and I can see this being a major hit at their gigs.