Ratboys - Singin’ to an Empty Chair

After bafflingly spending more than a decade in relative obscurity, Ratboys finally made the breakthrough they’d looked poised to for years in 2023 with ‘The Window’; a record that felt like the culmination of a sound they’d been sculpting since 2010, their blend of college rock guitars and insistent vocal melodies sounding more expansive than ever. The only question that left was where to go next? The Chicago four-piece could have been forgiven for spinning their wheels and delivering ‘The Window’ Vol. 2, as they continue to find their feet on the stages of bigger and bigger venues in their native US.

They’ve always flirted with Americana, but that influence feels more pronounced than ever on ‘Singin’ to an Empty Chair’, their sixth album and one that takes its name from a specific type of therapy designed to purge pent-up emotions. Here, though, they sound more countrified than ever, particularly on opener ‘Open Up’, the wonderfully breezy ‘Penny in the Lake’ and the gorgeous, woozy ‘Strange Love’.

There is, though, still room for the Ratboys of old. ‘Anywhere’ is maddeningly catchy pop-punk, ‘Burn It Down’ is a simmering, moody rock epic and, on the eight-minute slow burn of ‘Just Want You To Know the Truth’, vocalist Julia Steiner delivers the finest lyrical work of her career; she is a born storyteller. At a time when country-tinged indie rock is by no means in short supply in America - Wednesday, Waxahatchee and MJ Lenderman all spring to mind - Ratboys have earned their seat at the top table.