Singin' to an Empty Chair

With their fourth album, 2023s The Window, sunset-streaked alternative country-rock outfit Ratboys expanded their audio palette, sometimes reaching into fuzzy guitar pop and adding auxiliary instruments like rototoms and effects to their typically sauntering sound. The growth was helmed by Chris Walla (Death Cab for Cutie), who produced the album at his studio in Seattle. Walla returns for the follow-up, Singin to an Empty Chair, which instead was recorded in a cabin in rural Wisconsin, at Steve Albinis Electrical Audio studio in the bands base of Chicago, and in nearby Evanston, for deliberate variations in sound. The title refers to a therapy exercise employed by Ratboys leader Julia Steiner while struggling with a personal estrangement that pervades the album. Beginning with the warm and twangy "Open Up" and closing on a song called "At Peace in the Hundred Acre Woods," its structured around emotional processing. Stops in between include the energetic, feedback-injected indie rocker "Light Night Mountains All That," whose lilting and howling vocals lock in for the repeated "You didnt care"; the more relaxed, nature-inspired "Penny in the Lake"; and the drawling, eight-and-half-minute "Just Want You to Know the Truth," which revisits moments past between sentiments like "When it comes time to talk, I got nothin’ to prove" and "Well, I’m not ready, but I hope I will be soon." Another lengthy entry, the penultimate track, "Burn It Down," is a drugged-out one steeped in an adolescent desire to tear it all down, and one of several songs here forced to guess what others are thinking. Throughout, Singin to an Empty Chair feels loose and live, with extended guitar solos, a few band jams, and vocals that ricochet between frustration, bewilderment, hurt, and tenderness. Despite its multi-purpose recording approach, widely varying tempos, and ever-changing moods, its Ratboys most cohesive album yet and one that will likely connect with those fruitlessly seeking closure. ~ Marcy Donelson