Sincere Engineer - Bless My Psyche album review

On the surface of social media, Sincere Engineer is a bit of a hard project to dissect. They’re put into just about every punk facet you can think of without arriving at hardcore but I feel that bit is fair as the band mixes pop punk and midwestern emo elements into their music. The most puzzling part though is if this is a band or a solo act, seeing as the representation between it being either is fairly equal. In actuality it started as one and became the other. The band is fronted by Chicago native Deanna Belos and was orchestrated totally by her prior to this album before Red Scare records owner Toby Jeg helped her get off the ground and find bandmates. All history aside though, this new record Bless My Psyche has been turning a lot of heads in the past couple of weeks.

We hit the ground running immediately on “Trust Me.” Drums kick the record off but it’s not even two seconds in before the rest of the band kicks in and Belos gives their “grand introduction.” The percussion overall is really strong on the entire track but the thing is, aside from a small guitar carry in verse two nothing is ever really outshining something else here. The entire record has a recurring theme of brutal honesty that starts right away too not even at a chorus yet and we’re hearing lines like;

“I’m laying in the street for the second time this week, all of my plans failed, all of the things I promised you I’ll never get around to.”

All that yet still the narrator is begging for help and admitting they have a problem in the track's chorus backed by some really nice harmonies.

A sound that’s sort of like feedback, sort of like strings, carries us into “Tourniquet” which in only just two minutes is a bit hard to quantify. The track itself is a simple acoustic jam that becomes a punk rock interlude with even more praise worthy percussion. It’s almost incredible as in such a short time this song serves three purposes for the record at large being a tender moment, a lead back into the more aggressive bits and a reintro of sorts.

“Out of Reach” is where Sincere Engineer starts to show it’s true midwestern roots with its near apathetic vocal delivery backed by a punk band who really just wants to have a good time playing. The honest lyricism just doesn’t stop with the tagline of the chorus being;

“All the things I want need just seem so out of reach for me”

The track then winds down over its last leg so that we can lower our adrenaline for the next cut.

“Recluse in the Making” is another one of these cuts that has so many little bells and whistles that you may just miss something if you aren’t careful. The sort of strumming sound effect, (almost sounds like an answering machine) the tender guitars, the well planned bassline and even a tinge of harmonica makes this sound like it could be played in the parking lot of the rock show to get kids sentimental but also a blues bar. Belos actually acknowledges her brutal honesty directly with lines like;

“To this taxi driver I’m more honest than I ever was with my therapist, I told him I’m in love with you one year, three months before you knew”

Which to me sounds like even in this track alone Belos is allowing herself to be more open and honest than maybe they would be in her everyday life.

“Hurricane of Misery” is where the musicianship just goes buckwild. The percussion delivery here sounds almost a bit sloppy and disjointed but I want you to understand I do mean that in a complimentary way. In a live setting no one would even notice little kinks like that and I like that the mood of the record is to not iron those out. There’s also some very nice vocal delivery decisions with Belo repeating;

“I wanna touch you with my mouth, I wanna drink till I pass out”

Once for a warm up, then once more with feeling. I hate to repeat “honesty, honesty, honesty” but something about “I’m dying of boredom” to “I’m dying cause I drink too much” is a mood shift that I can’t help but appreciate.

“Gone for So Long” may be my favorite guitar performance on the record as it opens with a riff that has an air of familiarity and a pop sensibility that makes it stand out amongst the other tracks. Lyrically it plays with a narration of depression on literally a day of the week basis. Yet outside of those two factors there isn’t much new going on here.

Not sure what the grand single rollout was like though I know there were quite a bit of them. The song I was first exposed to was “Come Out for a Spell” which, I have to just say outright, is very good. Again, there are so many little production choices and add ons that it’s easy to miss a handful of them. The intro riff sounds almost strained, almost like it’s being played at a distance but not quite. There’s a fast killer bass groove as well. The outro here is a typical big rock ending but in more a punk sense as it goes up and up in octaves till it just blasts away. Every lyric is delivered so carefully and concisely here but I also have to wonder about the placement this is in narratively. The record has this recurring theme that seems to be talking to one person who doesn’t feel the way you do about them but then this track opens with;

“I’m not feeling too well, could you come out for a spell?”

Which, makes me think Belos is asking for an outing to get over lost love from the person who denied her of it. Overall the entire song just feels so tight and insync that I would probably recommend anyone curious about this artist to start right here.

“Dry Socket” has more of a radio rock accessibility. The intro sounds danceable, the chorus is huge and the bass just powers through the mix. That’s really all I have to say on this one. I think you could show almost anyone this one and it’ll stick in some way, but at that, it is only two and a half minutes long.

The opening, isolated riff that opens “Coming in Last” does a comeback in it’s post-chorus. It’s a moment instrumentally that I have to point out as when it comes back around it turns a piece of guitar playing into a heavy pop punk jam-out that makes it stick out in a fresh way even though you had only heard it a moment ago. This song overall is the most pop punk here as well. The narrative it plays out is interesting as well. In here Belos talks about driving through a sea of cars, never knowing where she’s going, wanting to see those important to you. It takes something as mundane as being stuck in traffic and makes it a subject that works in a track of the genre, which I find interesting but I’m also conceptualizing all these reviews in my own car so maybe I’m a bit biased.

There’s nothing new at all going on in “Dragged Across the Finish Line” but I want to emphasize that at track ten that’s totally okay. The last track however, the title track, gives Belos one last moment in the spotlight as it’s just vocals and guitar. If you liked the punk, no mistakes hidden, aspect I explored earlier on the tracklisting you will love this as it sounds like you’re in the room watching this song come to be.

The experience of this record can be a simple one at times, it follows a lot of the pop punk and emo formulas that we all know and many of the songs are one idea go-finish-next song. In spite of all those simplicities however I come out having enjoyed Belos songwriting, sincerity and the overall musicianship of everyone involved here. If you’re looking for a record that you can have fun to but will also have you in your feelings with brutal honest lyricism that manages to turn the mundane parts of everyday somehow sound exciting this thing is only a half an hour, I’d urge you to give it a shot.