Ratboys - Singin' to an Empty Chair - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

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 music on the band's sixth studio album - it's first for New West Records - fills the space that person left behind with 11 songs 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. The four-piece Chicago band followed up 2023's highly acclaimed The Window by reconvening with co-producer Chris Walla to begin tracking at a rural Wisconsin cabin before taking the songs to Steve Albini's famed Electrical Audio studios in Chicago and later to Rosebud Studio in Evanston, Illinois. The results veer from bubbly power-pop on InchAnywhereInch to irresistible post-country on InchPenny in the Lake,Inch along with heart-piercing ballads like InchJust Want You to Know the TruthInch and an exhilarating detour into the extraterrestrial on InchLight Night Mountains All That,Inch which Steiner dubs the band's mammoth Inchwormhole jam.Inch Singin' to an Empty Chair also marks the first Ratboys album written since Steiner began therapy, which the singer/lyricist credits for the clarity found across the album's unflinching examinations of relationship and self. Fittingly, as the album begins by extending a hand into the void, it concludes with a scene of serenity - all while weaving candid honesty, humor, chaos, and whimsy along the way. InchIt's not all doom and gloom,Inch Steiner says. InchThe experience of making this record definitely gives me hope for whatever happens next.Inch