Applied Communications Shares Single 'Sinéad' Ahead of EP

Applied Communications Has a Midlife Crisis is a comeback EP – 17 years in the making – from Max Wood (a.k.a. Applied Communications).

It's a collection of five alt-pop songs that navigate Max's journey through depression, gender dysphoria, existential panic, and self-love. While more accessible and beat-driven than past Applied Communications records (such as the polarizing Uhhh Sort Of ), . . .Midlife Crisis remains deeply personal and idiosyncratic.

Lead single "Sinéad," is a collaboration with Emperor X that tells the story of a psychotic break on the beach. "Sinéad is about a pretty intense mental breakdown I had while visiting Los Angeles for work. I tried to capture the anxiety and mania of those feelings, but also keep the spirit of the song off-kilter and not too serious. I had a version of the song that was more straightforward and poppy, but it didn’t feel right. I then sent it to my friend Emperor X, who did all kinds of bizarre unexpected things to the music. I took his edits, doubled down on them, and ended up with a version that felt way more authentic to the experiences I had that day." - Max Wood (Applied Communications)

The EP was mixed by Scoobert Doobert (CHAI, Victor Marc) and mastered by Riley Knapp (Rosie Tucker, Lou Roy), who elevated the sound far beyond previous Applied Communications efforts.

Applied Communications is the musical alias of Max Wood. When they were a teenager, Max released abrasive, unconventional, and deeply personal songs that attracted polarizing responses (their 2005 album Uhhh Sort Of was called "hard to stomach, but even harder to turn away from" by PopMatters while earning a spot on Pitchfork's 15 worst releases of 2005). Max played concerts in laundromats and laser tag arenas, wore vagina pants in Vice Magazine, and generally delighted a small group of loyal fans while alienating much larger audiences with naked angst and noise.

Eventually, Max moved on – working in politics and software engineering, starting a company, and becoming a proud parent. To make this pivot to a more normal life succeed (and to escape embarrassment), they tried to hide all the digital evidence of this weird past – removing music from streaming services, sending takedown requests to YouTube channels, and asking blogs and magazines to remove past articles.

However, almost twenty years since their last major release as Applied Communications, Max entered a stark depression. At the same time, they started receiving a confusing series of social media messages and emails. Max realized a TikTok influencer named Madeline Pendleton had asked her followers to figure out what happened to Applied Communications. By combing through archive.org and buying CDs on Ebay, her followers were able to piece together the story of this forgotten band – posting the recovered music on Youtube, geeking out over these discoveries in the comments, and even launching a fansite.

This wave of post-hoc validation from similarly alienated young people made Max recommit to making music as a way to escape depression. And it worked! (Well, that plus all the therapy and ketamine.) Max's journey out of depression is explained in Applied Communications Has a Midlife Crisis, a 5-song EP coming out April 26, 2024.

Photo by Tom Friedl

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