Review: Lost in the City Return with First New Single in Five Years, “Changing Directions”

When a band decides to return, there are a lot of factors to consider. First: will the demand still be there? Second: What do they want to accomplish with this reunion? and Third: Where will our sound progress from where we left off? These questions can keep the average musician up at night and, at times, even spur moments of doubt that it will even be worth it. For a band like Kansas City’s own, Lost in the City, though, the answers to those questions lie in simply going with the flow. With, as vocalist Shane Radford puts it “a new face or two”, they are setting out to lay waste to everything you thought you knew about Lost in the City. Since their hiatus, they’ve had the opportunity of having their music featured on the “Office Ladies” podcast by Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey, which grew them in a way they never expected. The beginning of this transformation comes from the release of their first new song in five years, “Changing Directions” and, as the title suggests, it’s not your typical LITC track. Opening with a screamed intro, we venture into more of an Easycore territory than the traditional indie/pop-punk vibe we’ve heard from them in the past. Chugging guitars give way to an airy, upbeat instrumental before Radford’s unmistakable vocals return to the listener’s ears. “I’ve got the ego, I’ve got the heart… don’t ask me to write, I’m too scared to show it” he says, wearing the fear of this reunion on his sleeve but laughing it in the face. He goes onto say “Don’t expect the usual because I’m changing directions. They’ll find me saying I’ve gotta hit perfection,” a bold proclamation that he refuses to settle for anything less than the best if this is going to work out. The tempo change after the first chorus is one of my favorite parts about the track because it almost feels like a whole new song, yet sounds unmistakably LITC. So to say that their sound has changed COMPLETELY would be a false statement but the direction they’re headed in, definitely differs from where they were five years ago. Each musician finds their sweet spot in this nostalgic, yet somehow fresh sound that they’ve created. Strangely reminscent of the glory days of Fall Out Boy, back before many knew their name (and mayhaps – a precursor to LITC’s legacy). The band is currently hard at work with Bret Liber at Red Roof Studios in Kansas City to bring us a full EP, so be on the lookout for that in the future. For now, “Changing Directions” is out August 29th and it’s everything you never knew you needed in a song. You can pre-save it here now!  Welcome home, if indeed you ever truly left. Find a recent statement from Radford on the band’s return below:

“august 12, 2025 – 12:07 am

mood: like the ceiling fan is spinning faster than it should

listening to: the same four chords until they stop sounding like music and start sounding like a memory

in 2020 we broke up. no slow fade. no last show with sweaty hugs and fake promises. we put out one song in the middle of a pandemic and then we were gone.
no rehearsals. no writing. no posts. just…gone.

lost in the city wasn’t lost. we were buried.

before that, we’d been the band you stumbled across at a weird coffee-shop-beer-bar hybrid outside of san francisco, playing to an audience of six (seven if you count the bartender). we’d been the band you heard on the radio in your car, windows down, pretending the song was yours. we’d been in magazines you left open on your bedroom floor next to your converse. and yeah, we were the band mentioned on the office ladies podcast; which was somehow the weirdest full-circle fever dream of them all.

and now somehow…we’re breathing again.

the past few months have felt like waking up in a room you don’t remember falling asleep in.

songs pouring out like we’ve been holding them in for years.

guitars leaning against walls like they’re eavesdropping.

empty coffee mugs and beer bottles stacking up next to half-finished lyrics.

pages of my notebook filling up with words i don’t always remember writing.

there’s a shoebox in my closet with old wristbands from venues that don’t exist anymore. wedged between them are artist passes from nights where we felt like we belonged in a way nothing else in life has ever touched. setlists scrawled in sharpie, smudged from my sweaty hands.

i think about the tours…often. even more lately. driving on two hours of sleep at 2am just to make the next city by load-in. sharing snacks from gas stations that only sold three things worth eating. laughing until my voice was gone. half-dead from exhaustion but feeling more alive than i ever had.

we’ve been building something. it’s faster, louder, and rawer than anything we’ve ever made. it feels like the records we grew up on, but through the filter of everything we’ve lived since. it’s the sound of being 16 and invincible, recorded by people who know better but still want to believe. it’s five songs dripping with every ounce of passion we have left to give.

the first piece of it comes out 08/29. it’s called changing directions.

it’s about standing in the middle of a park you’ve been going to your whole life, realizing the swings are smaller than you remember, the distance from the seat to the ground isn’t as far, the paint is chipping, and maybe it’s time to find a new place to play.

the rest of this year is going to be louder.

stranger.

maybe a little dangerous.

you’ll hear more soon. maybe you’ll even see us again.

08/29. changing directions.
we’re officially back.

still loud. still burning. still lost.
-shane”

Follow Lost in the City on Social Media:
Facebook | Instagram