Ratboys - Singin' to an Empty Chair (Album Review)
Thursday, 12 February 2026
Written by Jack Press
Photo: Miles Kalchik
Emerging from vocalist Julia Steiner’s journey through therapy, Ratboys’ ‘Singin’ to an Empty Chair’ is a potential modern classic that underlines the harsh reality that great work often emerges from an artist's darkest hours.
Open Up establishes the album’s push-pull: the warmth of a fire constantly at war with the icy cold outside — warm acoustics are interrupted by fuzzed-up grunge that captures Steiner’s racing mind. “What’s it gonna take to open up?” she asks over heavily caffeinated drums.
Producer Chris Walla, returning from 2023’s breakthrough ‘The Window’ captures this duality throughout, helping to accent Ratboys' most ambitious songwriting yet.
Light Night Mountains All That chucks a grunge grenade into the first few rows of a folktronica festival, with Steiner wailing “you didn’t care” over extraterrestrial synths and glitchy feedback. It shouldn’t work, but it absolutely does.
The eight-minute Just Want You to Know the Truth has rootsy Americana bursting into flames at the hands of an incendiary guitar solo that earns every second of its runtime. Even at 51 minutes, their longest album yet, no song outstays its welcome.
Ratboys haven’t abandoned the immediacy of their earlier work, though. Anywhere delivers a power-pop adrenaline rush about anxious attachment, its chorus lodging itself in your brain for days. The World, So Madly drapes maple syrup melodies over stacks of existential dread, while Penny in the Lake channels Springsteen with Steiner’s sardonic delivery of the line, “today’s gonna change my life / what’s for breakfast / Jesus Christ?”
Closer At Peace in the Hundred Acre Wood brings resolution, Steiner seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Following ‘The Window’ with something as ambitious as ‘Singin’ to an Empty Chair’ could have backfired. Instead, Ratboys may have crafted their career-defining masterpiece.
Ratboys Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Wed May 20 2026 - SOUTHAMPTON Joiners
Thu May 21 2026 - LONDON Garage
Fri May 22 2026 - LEEDS Belgrave Music Hall
Tue May 26 2026 - DUBLIN Grand Social
Thu May 28 2026 - GLASGOW Mono - Kings Court
Fri May 29 2026 - MANCHESTER YES (The Pink Room)
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