Dante Shivers is an independent American singer-songwriter and producer whose music ranges from alternative rock to blues, folk and cinematic styles. The distinct yet melodic quality of his voice gives a unifying character to these various genres, and it is through personal storytelling that his debut album, “American Nightmare”, brings them all together. In the case of “Changes”, the background to the song should be highlighted. The song was written in both London and New York, put aside for almost fifteen years, and was only finally recorded in Thailand. It is a considerable span of time to take through into a recording session.

The song started when Shivers came across a ballerina in London through a common friend of theirs. On one evening he walked her home and during this trip they discussed travel, their aspirations and how difficult it is to pursue the kind of lives they had imagined for themselves. Afterwards he stayed awake while she was sleeping and looked at the moon through her window, there being her ballet shoes close by. It is a very specific way to begin. The shoes belong to someone whose ambitions include daily physical effort, practice and discipline.

The fact is what gives ‘Changes’ its emotional appeal: two people spend an evening having a discussion about the future and one of them remains awake thinking about what it would take to achieve it; a person who has once taken part in a serious conversation at two o’clock in the morning will understand this situation.

Shivers started writing the song in London and completed it once he had gone back to New York City; after that there was a gap of fifteen years. I find that aspect especially interesting since songs concerned with ambition generally come about when the artist is still grappling with it; in this case the recording was made at a later stage in his life. The young songwriter who was unsure whether he should follow his dreams eventually became the travelling artist who finished the same song in Thailand.

The shift in perspective introduces a certain tension into the song. The first instance refers to a younger man, full of the uncertainties that arise when one is imagining the future. The finished recording, on the other hand, is the result of someone who is making actual decisions about how to live. Both points of view are included in “Changes”. The fact that a song is kept for so long also implies that an earlier version of yourself gets to have a say in the present work.

Shivers’ more general approach to music is appropriate for something so personal. In his writing he follows the emotional requirements of each song and makes use of rock, blues and folk traditions which allow the individual experience a good deal of space. The rough quality of his voice is particularly suitable for a narrative shaped by time since the appeal lies in the person who has it, in the history connected with it and in the decision to share it at this moment.

The song earns its title because of the circumstances surrounding its completion. A conversation that had taken place in London was turned into a song in New York and only later, when the writer had started to live some of the things he had once talked about, did he finally record it in its entirety fifteen years afterwards.

*This review was made possible by MusoSoup