Review
Genre and Mood
Lipka made Change a short piece of electronic indie pop. The Geneva duo tag it electronic, electro and indie pop, alongside alternative and soul, and their own story explains the mix: one member came from punk rock and folk, the other from dancehall, reggae and electronica. The title promises a confrontation, and the song keeps it brief, energetic on the surface, with a defiant and introspective edge in the idea of being asked to change.
Song Summary
Change runs just over three minutes on the album. It is built on the partnership that defines Lipka: Felix Landis sings and writes the words, Etienne Maître composes and produces, and the album credits add Nicolas Meury as arranger. The band describes Landis’s voice as chameleon-like, moving from key to key and story to story, and Maître’s production as eclectic and immersive. Their biography also promises lyrics that offer a different view on everyday life, and a song called Change, released as the first sign of a new album, fits that promise.
Musical Breakdown
Studio Version
The version embedded here is the label’s upload from March 2016, published to announce the album due that spring. It is the album recording, three minutes long, and the place to hear the duo’s two backgrounds meeting in one production.
Live Version
In July 2016 Lipka performed the song for BalconyTV, the series that films bands live on balconies. BalconyTV’s introduction praises the singer’s stage presence and the band’s powerful sense for melody.
Remix
In December 2020 the duo released Change (Remix) with Vie D’Ange, a version of just over four minutes, a second life for the song five years after the single.
Concepts in Focus
Change exists in a live recording as well as in the studio. The BalconyTV session is worth hearing next to the album version: a band that builds its records with electronic production has to decide what to keep when it plays outdoors, in front of a camera and a few listeners. What survives that move tells you what the song really rests on.
The 2020 remix with Vie D’Ange shows the other direction. A remix takes the finished song apart and rebuilds it, and here it lengthens the song by about a minute. Comparing the two lets you hear which parts of Change are the song and which are its first production.
Artistic Context
Lipka was formed in Geneva by two childhood friends, the singer Felix Landis and the producer Etienne Maître; Discogs dates it to 2009, BalconyTV to 2010. Maître is also one of the founders of Evidence Music, a Geneva label started in 2013 that released the duo’s first album, which included Lipka – No More Beer. Change came out on Bandcamp as a single on 2 November 2015, and the second album, Grande Giocatore, followed in 2016 on Evidence Music with Change as its second track.
Impact and Reception
Change has stayed a small-label song, without chart positions or wide press, but it travelled through a label video, a BalconyTV session and a remix, and through listeners’ own playlists, which is how it earned its place here. Start with the studio version, then watch the balcony.
