GENRE-DEFYING ALT-ROCK BAND NO SIGNAL RELEASE NEW FULL-LENGTH ALBUM DISTORTED REALITY

NASHVILLE, TN (August 25, 2023) — Colorado-based alternative rock band, No Signal — led by 21-year-old Riley Schmelzer (vocals, guitar, keys), backed by Jake DeMarco on bass and Nic Kubes on drums — release their new 16-track album, Distorted Reality, with the intentionally critical, hard-hitting focus track, “entropele.” Distorted Reality showcases the young band’s ability to seamlessly blend deep illusionment, entrancing transitions and intricate conceptual elements within each song. 

Building a world of conceptual, dark, genre-bending music, Distorted Reality showcases the young band’s ability to seamlessly blend deep illusionment, entrancing transitions and intricate conceptual elements within strong lyricism and unique sounds. 

Listen to Distorted Reality here.

“entropele” combines two elements, entropy and ELE, using entropy as a metaphor for humans’ progression into chaos, disorder and decay, while drawing a parallel to the ever-present threat of the modern events that could lead to our extinction that coexists with the preoccupation of ego and self-interest. “The track acknowledges lots of different things,” Riley shares. “But primarily that these forces ultimately hold sway over us, highlighting the reality of living with this fact. Our time to enact positive change may be limited before the forces prevail. There is a lot more to this track, but I’d like the listener to find the rest and hear and interpret things for themselves.”

Ahead of the album’s release, Distorted Sound Mag praised the record and its focus track saying, “Distorted Reality takes listeners through all the emotions.… from start to finish the band keeps their listeners on their toes with what’s to come next. Opening with ‘entropele,’ they kick off with violins that build in intensity before a gentle piano comes in, offering a lovely juxtaposition between the calm and the dread, you can’t relax because something doesn’t feel right…. It’s just incredible with what No Signal have done here.

This record picks up right where the band left off with their previous project, venus (February 2022), encompassing the fusion of alternative, rock, and progressive elements, creating a truly unique and immersive experience. From the very beginning, Riley has kept his eye on the prize, constantly striving to break new sonic ground. The young visionary brought in the best of the best to help on this record: the revered seven-time GRAMMY-winning audio engineer Brian Vibberts (Aerosmith, Alice In Chains, Billie Eilish, Bon Jovi, David Lee Roth, Elton John, Green Day, Michael Jackson), three-time GRAMMY-winning producer David Bottrill (Peter Gabriel, Godsmack, Muse, Mastodon, Tool, Stone Sour) as executive consultant on the LP's focus track, “entropele,” highly acclaimed GRAMMY-winning audio engineer Alex Psaroudakis (Amy Grant, Celine Dion, Cher, Kylie Minogue, Mel-B, Rosalía).

While the story of Distorted Reality is in the eyes and ears of the beholder, Riley explains that this record presents a collection of new, individual tales within a meticulously constructed universe, portraying the overarching themes woven into each of their projects, flooded with vivid metaphors and distinct rules. 

“Each story is richly visual and intricately detailed, interconnected in various ways, with some narratives sharing stronger connections than others,” Riley explains. “While this album is one of our most conceptually driven works, we have intentionally offered the listeners greater freedom to explore and engage with the music, allowing their own interpretations to shape the experience as well.”

Leading up to the album, the group has released a number of singles, offering a look into the full project to come. The song, “PSD” (January 2021), was one of the first looks into Distorted Reality, combining elements of soft ambience and strong harmonies that push the boundaries of rock.  

The record’s first single of 2022, “Jane,” arrived in September accompanied by a visually entrancing music video with incredible VFX by Tom Fisher, known professionally as Glass Void (Korn, Super Future). “Jane” is the quintessential introduction to No Signal’s arena-sized rock sound, pulling the listener in. “Embers,” the most recent look into the album, was released in November 2022 and brought listeners back into their infectious energy. "Embers is a metaphorical journey of moving on from the past,” explains Riley. “The embers represent the things you want to leave behind, ignited by the fire that pushes you to move forward. They surround you, setting ablaze the world ahead as you strive to escape the flames. Your goal is to let go of these omnipresent embers, leaving them behind in your life.”

The last single ahead of the album’s release, “Cloud 1,” explores the juxtaposition between dystopian and utopian perspectives on humanity’s trajectory into the future. “It speaks to our simultaneous flirtation with greatness and our looming potential for failure and destruction,” states Riley. “Simultaneously, we find ourselves entering a fascinating era for our species, full of potential and excitement… but regardless of the path chosen, we no longer have the luxury of avoiding change.” Although touching on relatively heavy subject matter, No Signal doesn’t shy away from acknowledging the complex duality of positive and negative aspects that characterize our present reality: an ever-present theme throughout the album.

Their largest project to date, Distorted Reality expands upon the group’s roots in alt-rock, touching on different genres and themes. Many tracks on the album are very piano centric, which is a first for No Signal. These songs, with their energetic kinship, create an atmospheric and theatrical ambience different from what you’d expect to hear from the band. With a large range of sounds employed throughout the record, they all blend together when placed into the context of the universe this record creates. “It's new for us,” Riley admits. “But it still withholds our own sound, and I hope our existing fans will be thrilled by this progression, and how this truly does feel to be our next chapter.”