Sincere Engineer

Sincere Engineer is the Chicago punk project led by Deanna Belos, and across nearly a decade it has become one of the most quietly dependable names in the city's rock scene. What started as Belos's songwriting outlet has grown into a full band, with Belos on lead vocals and guitar alongside drummer Adam Beck, guitarist Kyle Geib, and bassist Nick Arvanitis. The sound sits where punk-pop, emo, and a little folk grit all overlap: fast, hooky, and unguarded, the kind of music that feels like reading someone's diary at full volume.

The catalog tells a clear story of growth. The 2017 debut Rhombithian arrived via Red Scare Industries and announced Belos as a writer with a knack for turning anxious, everyday detail into singalongs. Signing to Hopeless Records, the band sharpened that instinct on Bless My Psyche in 2021, home to songs like "Trust Me," where the melodies get bigger without losing the raw, conversational honesty that makes the project tick. It is pop punk that earns its catharsis rather than faking it.

Cheap Grills, released in 2023, is where a lot of listeners really locked in. The album leans into a sleeker, more confident attack while keeping the blue-collar, do-it-yourself spirit intact. "California King" served as the lead single and is a perfect distillation of what Belos does best: a sticky chorus, a self-aware lyric, and just enough bite to keep it from going soft. Deeper cuts like "Fireplace" round out a record that balances hooks and heart in equal measure. Around its release the band headlined Chicago's storied Metro for the album show, set out on their first proper US headline tour, and played festivals including Sad Summer and Lollapalooza, signs of a project steadily expanding its reach on the strength of the songs alone.

Now comes Probable Claws, the band's fourth full-length and another entry on Hopeless. Lead single "Twist My Tongue" opens the record swinging: cathartic, urgent, and immediately familiar in the way that only the best pop punk manages to be. "Cooler" keeps the momentum going, all forward motion and emotional plainspokenness. The album feels like the natural next step for a band that has spent years getting tighter and more assured without ever sanding off the edges that made people fall for it in the first place.

What ties it all together is Belos's voice as a writer. She has a gift for naming the small, unglamorous feelings most people keep to themselves, then setting them to melodies that lodge in your head for days. In 2025 she put out a self-made documentary titled Nobody's Gonna Do It For You: Ten Years of Sincere Engineer, a title that doubles as a pretty good summary of the whole ethos here. This is music built on persistence, honesty, and a refusal to wait around for permission.

For anyone who likes their rock loud, sincere, and full of hooks, Sincere Engineer is an easy band to love and an even easier one to keep coming back to.