The new project of Taleen Kali (TÜLIPS) and Greg Katz (Cheekface), Changing is a self-described love letter to both riot grrrl and the glam rock of the seventies and eighties. Like the ancestors which inspired it, the band is a vehicle of exploration and protest, forming in a society in which even the DIY music scene was experiencing the trickle down effects of the capitalist and patriarchal system at large.
“It was a jaded time,” Kali explains. “L.A. was changing so much and it didn’t feel like the city I grew up in anymore. Pehrspace had shut down, and we didn’t have a spot to play regular shows. Most of these songs are about emotional exile and reclaiming a sense of power, contending with impossible truths.”
Lead single ‘Not a Citizen’ is almost a mission statement for Changing. Inspired by Claudia Rankin’s poetry collection Citizen, the track uses the riot grrrl blend of clear-eyed ferocity and sneering swagger to take on the themes of identity and injustice explored in the book, emerging with an alluring blend of frustration and catharsis that refuses to be pinned down. “I was thinking a lot about otherness and belonging and citizenship and exile,” Kali says, “and wanting to learn how to affect change, not having yet learned about transformative justice.”
‘Not a Citizen’ is out now on streaming services and available to buy from the Changing Bandcamp page.