Having arranged some material for their next studio album, Rush toured North America and Europe from October to December 1981 with a setlist that contained "Subdivisions". The group had their sound man capture their soundchecks on tape which provided a method of developing new songs, which was particularly the case for "Chemistry". The majority of "Signals" was written and rehearsed in early 1982. Geddy Lee has said that the group were aware of how easy it would have been to " it safe" and produce another "Moving Pictures", a mindset the band was entirely against. The album displays the band continuing to incorporate the synthesizer into their songs with less emphasis on guitar-oriented riffs which had been the focus of their sound in the 1970s. Lee considered "Signals" as the beginning of a new era for the band. In hindsight, he said it was considerably difficult to make because it took longer than usual for the band to achieve the right feel for each song. Some ideas that Alex Lifeson and Lee had initially saved for a potential solo album were used on "Signals". Writer and journalist Greg Quill noticed a "cyclical framework" in "Signals", specifically the album opening in suburbia followed by contemplating escape in "The Analog Kid". Then, "universal human imponderables" are explored through humanity, sex, religion, and ageing, which ends in an actual escape in "Countdown". Quill spoke to Peart about this theory, to which the drummer replied: "You noticed that. We were hoping no one would. It's so unfashionable these days to construct grand concepts. We're being closed mouthed about it".