Despite it's title, Ratboys' new album Singin' to an Empty Chair is not defined by what's missing. Rather, it's the beginning of an important dialogue with a close loved one, vocalist Julia Steiner finds herself estranged from.
The band's sixth studio album showcasing Ratboys at the peak of their powers - twangy, effervescent, as confident as they've ever been, and perhaps more emotionally interrogative than ever before.
Ratboys fill GN with near-misses, ghost pets, lonely rooms, and the strange comedy of staying alive. It is twangy indie rock with a diarist’s eye and a band’s instinct for lift.
Printer’s Devil catches Ratboys expanding from porch-light folk-rock into a full-band rush of power-pop, alt-country, and Midwestern static. Julia Steiner’s songs feel warm to the touch even when they’re tracing the fault lines under the floorboards.
Singin’ to an Empty Chair turns absence into conversation, letting Ratboys chase grief through twangy power-pop, country shimmer, and guitar-band lift-off. This color vinyl edition makes the band’s most emotionally open set feel even more like a keepsake.