# Sign Crushes Motorist
**Sign crushes motorist** (stylized in all lowercase) is the slowcore (subgenre of slow, minimalist, subdued indie rock) and lo-fi recording project of Irish musician Liam McCay, known for bedroom-recorded songs built on slow tempos, quiet vocals, and lyrics of heartbreak and self-loathing.[1](https://www.last.fm/music/sign%20crushes%20motorist) • [2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/sign-crushes-motorist-mn0004546635) The project became one of the most-streamed acts associated with the slowcore revival driven by TikTok, with 2.7 million Spotify monthly listeners reported in 2023, and it takes its name from a song by the American slowcore band Duster.[3](https://stereogum.com/2245469/tiktok-has-made-shoegaze-bigger-than-ever/columns/sounding-board)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Artist | Liam McCay, an Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from County Donegal; born 2005[2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/sign-crushes-motorist-mn0004546635) • [1](https://www.last.fm/music/sign%20crushes%20motorist) |
| Name origin | Taken from a Duster song; one database instead attributes it to a song by the band Calm[3](https://stereogum.com/2245469/tiktok-has-made-shoegaze-bigger-than-ever/columns/sounding-board) • [1](https://www.last.fm/music/sign%20crushes%20motorist) |
| Albums | *i'll be okay* (August 5, 2022), *Hurting* (June 30, 2023), *SADDEST TRUTH* with KayCyy (Columbia, April 11, 2025)[4](https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/interpreter/sign-crushes-motorist/14932563) |
| Streaming peak | 2.7 million Spotify monthly listeners in 2023, about twice the listenership of Car Seat Headrest at the time[3](https://stereogum.com/2245469/tiktok-has-made-shoegaze-bigger-than-ever/columns/sounding-board) |
| Chart presence | A track peaked at number 3 on Billboard's TikTok Top 50; Spotify streams rose 5900% in twelve months[3](https://stereogum.com/2245469/tiktok-has-made-shoegaze-bigger-than-ever/columns/sounding-board) |
| Business model | Entirely self-recorded and self-released early albums; McCay reportedly turned down multiple major-label offers[2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/sign-crushes-motorist-mn0004546635) • [3](https://stereogum.com/2245469/tiktok-has-made-shoegaze-bigger-than-ever/columns/sounding-board) |
| Other aliases | McCay records under roughly a dozen further names, including Take Care, Birth Day, Hold, Manta, Dead Calm, and Make His Ribs Show[5](https://lpr.com/lpr_artists/sign-crushes-motorist/) |
## Background
Liam McCay was raised in Buncrana, County Donegal, by parents who played music by artists such as [Leonard Cohen](https://www.edgepedia.org/leonard-cohen) and [Depeche Mode](https://www.edgepedia.org/depeche-mode) at home; he began learning the fiddle at eight years old.[2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/sign-crushes-motorist-mn0004546635) As a teenager he became immersed in slowcore online, gravitating toward Low and Duster, and started releasing music under a proliferation of pseudonyms before adopting the sign crushes motorist name.[2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/sign-crushes-motorist-mn0004546635) The name is the title of a Duster song, a debt McCay acknowledges directly: "Duster are my #1 favorite band, ever," he told Stereogum in 2023, describing the first time he heard them as "a little safe place for me."[3](https://stereogum.com/2245469/tiktok-has-made-shoegaze-bigger-than-ever/columns/sounding-board) Last.fm's artist wiki instead states the name comes from a song by Calm, a discrepancy that appears in the project's own reference pages.[1](https://www.last.fm/music/sign%20crushes%20motorist)
McCay records at home with no label or manager, and by 2024 had released music under at least a dozen aliases, including Take Care, Birth Day, Manta, Hold, Miserable Teens Club, Roaming, Death Trap, and Moon Water.[3](https://stereogum.com/2245469/tiktok-has-made-shoegaze-bigger-than-ever/columns/sounding-board) • [5](https://lpr.com/lpr_artists/sign-crushes-motorist/) A 2024 podcast profile counted 14 aliases and streams in the hundreds of millions across projects.[6](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sign-crushes-motorist-the-enigmatic-19-year-old-with/id1451452272?i=1000671208663)
## Albums
**i'll be okay (2022).** The debut album was self-released on August 5, 2022, and runs 28 minutes across nine tracks, including "Wish," "Better," "i just want to hold her," "loser monologue," "theres this girl," and a cover of [Katy Perry](https://www.edgepedia.org/katy-perry)'s "[Last Friday Night](https://www.edgepedia.org/last-friday-night-t-g-i-f)."[4](https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/interpreter/sign-crushes-motorist/14932563) • [7](https://www.albumoftheyear.org/album/569168-sign-crushes-motorist-ill-be-okay.php) "Better" and "loser monologue" became unlikely hits among indie-rock listeners under 25; "loser monologue" is a slowcore song with a spoken-word monologue in the style of The Arcade Fire's "Dead Flag Blues," and that snippet circulated in thousands of TikTok videos.[8](https://www.elienis.com/chasing-fridays-camila-blushing-trail-of-lies/) The album is tagged slowcore, slacker rock, and bedroom pop, and carries a user score of 57 on Album of The Year based on nearly 1,900 ratings.[7](https://www.albumoftheyear.org/album/569168-sign-crushes-motorist-ill-be-okay.php)
**Hurting (2023).** The second album arrived on June 30, 2023.[4](https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/interpreter/sign-crushes-motorist/14932563) McCay described making it during what he called possibly the worst period of his life mentally, and it runs just over half an hour.[9](https://www.themusicmag.co.uk/music-reviews/sign-crushes-motorist-hurting-album-review) As on the debut, a spoken-word interlude sits at the center: "Manifesto" replaces guitars with muted synths and lists the narrator's own faults ("I am a burden on everyone in my life / I don't deserve anything / I will be alone forever").[10](https://music.apple.com/us/song/1688422762) Reviewers noted the album's additions relative to the debut, including auto-tuning, string experimentation on some songs, and the instrumental "Amare."[9](https://www.themusicmag.co.uk/music-reviews/sign-crushes-motorist-hurting-album-review) • [11](https://www.obicogs.com/reviews/sign-crushes-motorist-hurting)
**SADDEST TRUTH (2025).** A collaboration with the rapper and singer KayCyy, released on Columbia on April 11, 2025, and classified by retailers under hip-hop/rap rather than alternative and indie.[4](https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/interpreter/sign-crushes-motorist/14932563)
## Sound and influences
The project's sound is lo-fi slowcore: quiet, muttered vocals over minimal guitar, bass, and drum parts recorded in a bedroom.[3](https://stereogum.com/2245469/tiktok-has-made-shoegaze-bigger-than-ever/columns/sounding-board) AllMusic describes "languid, lo-fi guitar melodies and mournful lyrics inspired by real personal trials and heartache," and lists the project's styles as alternative/indie rock, slowcore, noise-rock, shoegaze, and post-rock.[2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/sign-crushes-motorist-mn0004546635) McCay has cited Duster, Cooking, and Apistat Commander as influences.[1](https://www.last.fm/music/sign%20crushes%20motorist) The debt to Duster is explicit enough that critics use it as the primary frame for the music, both favorably and not; one college-radio column called "Better" "an unabashed Duster ripoff" while still calling McCay's songs unlikely hits.[8](https://www.elienis.com/chasing-fridays-camila-blushing-trail-of-lies/)
## Reception and popularity
The project's rise is tied to TikTok, where slowcore and shoegaze saw a broad resurgence in the early 2020s; McCay's tracks took off in 2023, one peaking at number 3 on Billboard's TikTok Top 50 while his Spotify streams grew 5900% in a year.[3](https://stereogum.com/2245469/tiktok-has-made-shoegaze-bigger-than-ever/columns/sounding-board) AllMusic reports that both early albums amassed tens of millions of streams and that "There's This Girl" landed on Billboard's TikTok chart.[2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/sign-crushes-motorist-mn0004546635) Hot Press named the project one of its "Hot For 2024" Irish acts, citing 1.4 million monthly Spotify listeners and a debut Dublin headliner at The Workman's Club.[12](https://www.hotpress.com/music/hot-for-2024-irish-acts-sign-crushes-motorist-23004351) Spotify listed McCay among its "Lorem Artists to Watch."[13](https://www.bandsintown.com/a/15528404-sign-crushes-motorist?came_from=276)
Critical and listener opinion divides sharply. A WECB column argued that the project's popularity rests on sounding like Duster rather than on the writing itself, criticizing the uniformity of the songs and the "Last Friday Night" cover.[14](https://www.wecb.live/milkcrate/2024/11/8/duster-liam-mccay-amp-sign-crushes-motorist) User reviews on Album of The Year range from praise for the album's melancholic atmosphere to complaints that it is derivative and tedious.[7](https://www.albumoftheyear.org/album/569168-sign-crushes-motorist-ill-be-okay.php) Positive coverage emphasizes the intimacy of the recordings and the directness of the lyricism; Norman Records UK called *Hurting* "a modern classic to rival the works of those scene godfathers" in the genre.[15](https://www.normanrecords.com/records/202739-sign-crushes-motorist-hurting)
McCay played his first live show under the alias in August 2023 and has since opened for Panchiko and [Crywank](https://www.edgepedia.org/crywank).[1](https://www.last.fm/music/sign%20crushes%20motorist) He has been courted by several major labels but has declined to sign, remaining independent.[3](https://stereogum.com/2245469/tiktok-has-made-shoegaze-bigger-than-ever/columns/sounding-board) In a 2026 interview with The University Times, he said he did not want to play further live shows as sign crushes motorist for a while, calling the solo-guitar format boring, and pointed to his other projects, such as the screamo-leaning Dead Calm, as more enjoyable to perform.[16](https://universitytimes.ie/2026/05/liam-mccay-is-only-getting-started/)
## References
1. [sign crushes motorist, Last.fm](https://www.last.fm/music/sign%20crushes%20motorist)
2. [Sign Crushes Motorist biography by Mike Duquette, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/sign-crushes-motorist-mn0004546635)
3. [TikTok Has Made Shoegaze Bigger Than Ever, Stereogum](https://stereogum.com/2245469/tiktok-has-made-shoegaze-bigger-than-ever/columns/sounding-board)
4. [sign crushes motorist discography, Qobuz](https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/interpreter/sign-crushes-motorist/14932563)
5. [sign crushes motorist, LPR artist page](https://lpr.com/lpr_artists/sign-crushes-motorist/)
6. [Sign Crushes Motorist: The Enigmatic 19-Year-Old with 14 Aliases & 100M+ Streams, Mabfield podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sign-crushes-motorist-the-enigmatic-19-year-old-with/id1451452272?i=1000671208663)
7. [i'll be okay, Album of The Year](https://www.albumoftheyear.org/album/569168-sign-crushes-motorist-ill-be-okay.php)
8. [Chasing Fridays: Camila Cabello, Blushing, Trail of Lies, and more, elienis.com](https://www.elienis.com/chasing-fridays-camila-blushing-trail-of-lies/)
9. [Sign Crushes Motorist – 'Hurting' Album Review, The Music Mag](https://www.themusicmag.co.uk/music-reviews/sign-crushes-motorist-hurting-album-review)
10. [Manifesto – sign crushes motorist, Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/song/1688422762)
11. [sign crushes motorist – Hurting review, Obicogs](https://www.obicogs.com/reviews/sign-crushes-motorist-hurting)
12. [Hot For 2024 Irish Acts: sign crushes motorist, Hot Press](https://www.hotpress.com/music/hot-for-2024-irish-acts-sign-crushes-motorist-23004351)
13. [Sign Crushes Motorist concerts and tour dates, Bandsintown](https://www.bandsintown.com/a/15528404-sign-crushes-motorist?came_from=276)
14. [Duster, Liam McCay & sign crushes motorist, WECB](https://www.wecb.live/milkcrate/2024/11/8/duster-liam-mccay-amp-sign-crushes-motorist)
15. [Sign Crushes Motorist – Hurting vinyl, Norman Records UK](https://www.normanrecords.com/records/202739-sign-crushes-motorist-hurting)
16. [Liam McCay Is Only Getting Started, The University Times](https://universitytimes.ie/2026/05/liam-mccay-is-only-getting-started/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musicians and ensembles › Individual musical biographies › Rock, metal, and popular-band musicians › Indie rock and lo-fi › 2010s and 2020s indie musicians*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 11, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license