This is a TGEFM reader-submitted review. It may have been edited for content, spelling, or grammar but otherwise reflects the thoughts and opinions of the submitter.
Review by financial_powerbomb
Lauren Records – 08 Apr 2022
Signals Midwest’s new LP is a new start
Here we have a Cleveland-based band, Signals Midwest, on our list. You know, if I am being honest, I was not a huge fan of the band. I’ve actually been into them since they put out their 2016 LP At This Age on Tiny Engines and all I can say that their great works are from that year forward. Sorry early fans, I’m just being honest.
Six years have passed between At This Age and their new LP Dent, which seems like a long time between LPs, but the band has had two EPs and some other singles in-between. Vocalist Maxwell Stern has previously stated that the band members live in separate places, so it would be more difficult for the band to keep up the creative process and such. It does make sense that some bands who just live separately would just end their career, but Signals Midwest is having none of that.
Dent is clearly a magnificent work so I would say that it is damn worth the wait! Ten songs representing Signals Midwest’s indie-punk top notch songwriting, and I don’t like to be teased before an album is released so I avoided all of the singles in order to prevent excess expectation. Fortunately, it works!
I can’t say that the album represents any new elements for Signals Midwest, but the band continues to bring their own qualities on songwriting so that I wouldn’t really expect something new to be offered from their sound. They are just as classic as ever, as it were.
My favorite tracks for this LP are “Guest Room”, “Love And Commerce”, and “It Left A Dent”. None of them being a single for the album or being teased before, but the whole album is awesome so I would suggest you to listen to the entirety for certain.
The LP is the band’s first LP on Lauren Records, following the Pin EP in 2019, so you could say this is probably a new chapter for the band. If you’re a physical record collector the blue variant is still available at the store.
financial_powerbomb is a part-time punk, owner of Rizkan Records, and prolific music blogger in Indonesia. As an ESL writer, he’s looking to expand his footprint with more reviews in the English language, and TGEFM is more than happy to help out.
