“Most promising signs yet” of alien life on a planet beyond our Solar System

Aren't we looking into the past when looking at things this far away? So, just assuming here, that these are indeed signs of life, would that mean that "they" might have been primitive when these signatures were sent out into space and are now further developed?

Yes, but isn't it "just" 124 light years away. So, we're looking at it 124 years ago, which, in the scale of evolution, isn't particularly long ago?