Chicago band Ratboys is back with their sixth studio album, Singin’ to an Empty Chair. The band has seemingly perfected their mixture of indie rock / alt-country and has given listeners a worthy 50-minute spin on the record player. It’s polished, radio friendly, jangly, thought-provoking and might just be Ratboys' mainstream breakthrough.
I’ll admit it, when I first heard “Anywhere,” the lead single off Singin’ to an Empty Chair, I wasn’t immediately hooked. It’s a catchy tune and has been receiving a good amount of radio airplay the past few weeks (including here at Studio One), but something about it just never really grabbed me. This quickly changed in the context of the full album.
When I did get hooked was the track “Know You Then.” This song cooks. It’s a fun almost punk rock tune that has a guitar solo that would make Dinosaur Jr. take notice. From here the record stays strong, and we even enter intro more expansive territory with “Light Night Mountains All That.” Sonically, "Light Night Mountains All That" goes to a lot of places and keeps the ears active.
After the expansiveness of “Light Night Mountains All That” comes the aforementioned lead single “Anywhere.” Personally, I enjoyed it much more in the context of the album than as an individual listen. It’s a fun track with a great sing-a-long chorus and is sure to be a crowd favorite at Ratboys' live shows. And hey, any song that tastefully uses handclaps should get positive marks.
Some of my other favorite moments on this record came in the later half, with the lengthier tracks. “Just Want You to Know the Truth” (track eight) is close to 10 minutes, but the lyrics are thought provoking and tell a great story. The band jams it out for the last two minutes, which adds to the overall feeling of the song.
A tie for my favorite song on the album, along with “Know You Then,” is “What’s Right?” This song shows Ratboys in a different light than most of the tracks here and I really enjoyed it. Once again, the lyrics are thought provoking and made me pay attention. The music is melancholic but still rocks, which is almost always a winning combination.
I found myself wanting more of the sound of the band when they get angry on “Burn it Down.” With this track, they really channel anger in a creative way. With lyrics like “We’ve gotta burn it down” and “Hands off her f*ckin’ mouth,” you’d think this was a hardcore song. And yet, the music keeps things flowing peacefully until it reaches epic guitar shredding solo pitch, which would be a lot of fun to see live.
At the end Singin’ to an Empty Chair, I was left thinking about the overall feeling the record gave me. It was similar to the way I felt after last year’s Bleeds by Wednesday, which I loved. Sonically, the slide guitar and Julia Steiner's lyrics are reminiscent of Karly Hartzman. Maybe this is a sign of a new movement in indie rock, and if that's the case I welcome it wholeheartedly.
Ratboys hits the road later this month and will be staying on tour for quite some time. If you feel like catching them, the closet Iowa date is April 15 at The Waiting Room in Omaha.
