Last month, Ratboys announced their signing with New West Records with the release of “Light Night Mountains All That,” a 6-minute, Chris Walla-produced “ultra-high energy folk song, in the style of the Dodos’ Visiter, with somewhat spooky, mysterious and pastoral lyrics.” Julia Steiner hit the mark with flying colors, I’d say. Our writer Casey Epstein-Gross put it best in that week’s edition of the Best New Songs column: “The lyrics paint a world that’s both elemental and surreal—stones circling bodies, lightning striking when the sun explodes, a light underground laughing back at you. It’s expansive but exact, every jagged corner smoothed just enough to keep the song from fracturing completely. Still, it wants to break apart, and that tension is the thrill: you’re holding your breath waiting for the avalanche, only to realize the band is guiding you down the mountain instead, guitars glowing like phosphorescence in the dark.”
Now, Ratboys have announced their next record: Singin’ to an Empty Chair, the hotly anticipated follow-up to The Window, which we named the 5th-best album of 2023. It’s due out February 6. Here’s what bassist Sean Neumann had to say about the new album: “We wanted to approach this record like it was a quilt. We recorded the songs in all these different places, so we approached it in a way where different songs had different scenes. Certain parts of songs were recorded in different spaces, and we switch back and forth between them throughout the record to help tell the story of each song.”
New single “Anywhere” was inspired by guitarist Dave Sagan’s family dog. “Whenever Dave’s mom leaves the room, oh man, his whole world just falls apart,” Steiner says. “You can see it in his face. I think a lot of us can relate to that sort of anxious attachment style.” Bobby Butterscotch directed the accompanying video, and it absolutely rocks. Check it out, along with Ratboys’ upcoming tour dates and the Singin’ to an Empty Chair artwork and tracklist, below.
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Singin’ to an Empty Chair Artwork:
Singin’ to an Empty Chair Tracklist:
Open Up
Know You Then
Light Night Mountains All That
Anywhere
Penny in the Lake
Strange Love
The World, So Madly
Just Want You to Know the Truth
What’s Right?
Burn It Down
At Peace in the Hundred Acre Wood
Ratboys’ Upcoming Tour Dates:
Fri. Oct. 31 – Sat. Nov. 1 – Amsterdam, NL @ London Calling Festival
Sat. Nov. 1 – Groningen, NL @ Take Root Festival
Mon. Nov. 3 – Edinburgh, UK @ The Mash House
Tue. Nov. 4 – Newcastle, UK @ Xerox
Wed. Nov. 5 – London, UK @ Pitchfork London
Fri. Nov. 7 – Brighton, UK @ Mutations Festival
Wed. Feb. 25 – Detroit, MI @ El Club ~
Thu. Feb. 26 – Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace ~
Fri. Feb. 27 – Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz PDB ~
Sat. Feb. 28 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair ~
Tue. March 3 – Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church ~
Thu. March 5 – Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw ~
Fri. March 6 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club ~
Sat. March 7 – Richmond, VA @ The Broadberry ~
Sun. March 8 – Durham, NC @ Motorco Music Hall ~
Tue. March 10 – Asheville, NC @ The Grey Eagle ~
Wed. March 11 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West ~
Thu. March 12 – Nashville, TN @ The Basement East ~
Fri. March 13 – Louisville, KY @ Zanzabar ~
Sat. March 14 – Milwaukee, WI @ Vivarium
Tue. March 24 – St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway •
Wed. March 25 – Kansas City, MO @ recordBar •
Thu. March 26 – Fayetteville, AR @ George’s Majestic Lounge •
Fri. March 27 – Dallas, TX @ Club Dada •
Sat. March 28 – Austin, TX @ Mohawk •
Mon. March 30 – Albuquerque, NM @ Launchpad •
Tue. March 31 – Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar •
Wed. April 1 – San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar •
Fri. April 3 – Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom •
Sat. April 4 – San Francisco, CA @ August Hall •
Mon. April 6 – Vancouver, BC @ Biltmore Cabaret •
Tue. April 7 – Seattle, WA @ Neumos •
Wed. April 8 – Portland, OR @ Aladdin Theater •
Fri. April 10 – Boise, ID @ Shrine Social Club •
Sat. April 11 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Urban Lounge •
Mon. April 13 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater •
Wed. April 15 – Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room •
Thu. April 16 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line •
Fri. April 17 – Madison, WI @ Atwood Music Hall •
Sat. April 18 – Chicago, IL @ The Vic Theatre +
~ w/ Florry • w/ villagerrr + w/ Free Range
