Sincere Engineer’s “Twist My Tongue” Is Pop Punk With Its Heart on Its Sleeve

Sincere Engineer has never been a band that buries the lead. “Twist My Tongue,” the opening track and latest single from their forthcoming fourth album Probable Claws, comes out swinging — cathartic, urgent, and immediately familiar in the way that only the best pop punk manages to be. It kicks the record off exactly the way it should.

Probable Claws arrives June 26 and was tracked entirely at Chicago’s Electrical Audio — the late Steve Albini’s legendary studio and the origin point of more revered indie records than you could count. For Deanna Belos, recording there was a full-circle moment. The band has spent years touring alongside bands they admire, building a global audience without losing the gritty, blue-collar Chicago ethos that has always defined their sound. Four records in, the writing is as sharp as it’s ever been.

Across 11 tracks, Probable Claws moves with purpose — straight-ahead pop punk up front, a few of Sincere Engineer’s signature ballads woven through the middle, and an emotional closer in “Dynamite” that sticks the landing. Belos singles out “Arborvitae Evergreen” as her personal favorite, a song about the backyard of the house she grew up in. That kind of specificity is what separates good songwriting from great songwriting, and it runs all the way through this record. Pre-order it below.

Pre-order Probable Claws ↗

1“Twist My Tongue”

2“Cooler”

3“Pilot Light”

4“DNA”

5“LOL”

6“Fast Forward, Rewind”

7“Hallucinogenic”

8“Arborvitae Evergreen”

9“The Perfect Crime”

10“Settle Up with Your Downfall”

11“Dynamite”