Started as a solo project by Deanna Belos in 2015, Sincere Engineer has, kind of, since evolved into something more like a fully-fledged band. Certainly, this second record – the follow-up to 2017’s Rhombithian debut – sounds nothing like solo project, but then neither did the first. That’s because Sincere Engineer deal in that delightfully scrappy-but-actually-really considered-and-thought-out brand of poppy punk.
As on that first album, Deanna has mastered the art of infusing her jittery melodies with lyrics that tread the line between humour and pathos. It’s a combination made all the more potent by her emphatic vocal delivery – her voice can be both tender and vulnerable and jagged and raw, and occasionally all at the same time, as on Inside My Head.
That tussle and tension between raucous and hushed is nothing new in alternative/punk, but it works to great effect on all 12 of these tracks. Listen, for instance, to the way that Library Of Broken Bindings ebbs and flows between the two, accelerating in a rush of intense emotion, slowing down, then speeding back up again as Deanna pours her heart out about isolation and the comfort that reading books brings.