Signal XY’s latest EP is aptly-titled “Response.” The five songs are unabashed rockers, delivering hooky arrangements, brooding melodies and unembarrassed riffage amid a wash of dramatic sonic textures. An analog rock-and-roll kick-in-the-ass in today’s unfortunate indie-rock climate of twee digital-chirping and self-important navel-gazing. This album is not just a response, it’s an antidote.

The band is comprised of veteran journeymen from the San Diego mathcore, Inland Empire stoner gloom and Long Beach dirt rock scenes. That melding of styles and meshing of sounds isn’t merely a throwback. Signal XY has re-contextualized their backgrounds in a stew of influences to create something altogether different. Throughout the EP, there are shades of the spookier side of post-punk (Joy Division, Christian Death, Sisters of Mercy), meaty desert rock guitars, and maybe even a hint of mid-90s post-grunge. However, “Response” clearly has a sound of its own. A brand new kind of heavy, heavy darkwave.

The universe Signal XY inhabits is a cosmos of the Illuminati, time travel, global demise and alien abduction, but bassist/singer Shawn Bathe doesn’t revel in cold sci-fi spaciness. The songs never shy away from the emotional core behind the subject matter, driven by the aggro, punk-rock backbeat of drummer Mik and the soaring solos/angular riffs of guitar-shredder Steve Luna.   

If you like your indie-rock to actually rock, “Response” is the answer.

Followers of Barry Vail