Sign Crushes Motorist - Sound In The Signals Interview
I recently had the opportunity to interview Liam of Sign Crushes Motorist. We discussed thoughts on ‘I’ll Be Okay’, writing and recording new album ‘Hurting’, lyrical inspiration, vinyl variants and artwork, and more. Check it out below.
First, thanks for the interview.
Thanks for interviewing me.
You released your album ‘I’ll Be Okay’ in 2022. What are your thoughts looking back at it now?
Looking back I’m still quite proud of it, a lot of people dislike my choice to include the last friday night cover as it is quite harsh to listen to, but I honestly don’t regret putting it in. The album is as good as I could’ve made it I think, and I think my new album definitely improves upon I’ll be okay.
You’re set to release your new album ‘Hurting’ on June 30th. What can you tell us about it so far?
Some of the songs are quite similar production wise to I’ll be okay, there’s another spoken word track like loser monologue, except it is more about self-loathing than unrequited love, and there are also some strings featured on one of the songs. I am very proud of this album, and I think it’s one of my best albums yet.
Can you tell us more about the writing and recording process and the lyrical themes you explored?
For me, writing and recording usually go hand in hand, I usually think of a chord progression, record it, and build everything around that. Lyrically, I’ve been having a really rough time and I think the lyrics reflect that. Especially at the time of writing I was feeling a real self-hatred and blamed myself for everything, so I think that definitely shines through.
What do you hope listeners take away from the album? What did you take away from the process of creating it?
I hope listeners will be able to relate to this album and hopefully maybe make them feel less alone. Personally I took away from making this album that I still really like making warm fuzzy slowcore. I’ve been trying to expand my music taste recently and I thought maybe I wouldn’t enjoy making it as much, but once I started recording this album I fell in love with it again.
You shared the demo version of new song “I’m So Sorry” before the release. Can you tell us more about writing that song specifically?
That song originally was supposed to feature heavy distorted guitars, etc like you hear on the demo, but after recording it I realised it didn’t realy fit the vibe of the album so I decided to throw some autotune on the vocals just for fun. The actual song on the album is quite different from the demo, but I do still like the demo and that’s why I decided to release it on YouTube.
You released a visual for the song. Can you tell us more about the footage you used and the idea behind it?
While feeling depressed I try to go out walking a lot as I think it helps, and one time I was out I took my camera and just started exploring. I found a sheep’s skeleton in several pieces, which was really creepy, but also really interesting. I decided to film little clips of it to use in the visual, and then I cut in clips of me singing and playing the guitar.
Vinyl, cassettes, and merch is available for preorder. Tell us more about the vinyl options, artwork, and alternate cover artwork.
The vinyl for this album might be my favourite yet, all three variants look so beautiful. The artwork was taken one night after the bulb in my lamp blew out. I replaced it with an old one I had in my drawer, without realising that it was a smart led. When I turned it on the whole room went blue, and I decided to take some pictures with it, one of which I used as the album artwork. The alternate cover artwork, which was also available on t-shirts, was designed by the very talented mage tears, and I really like it.
Thanks for taking the time to answer the questions. Is there anything else that you'd like to add?
Not really, just make sure to listen to the album when it comes out, and thanks everyone for reading.
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