Reviews

Ratboys – Singin’ To An Empty Chair

Chicago’s Ratboys strike out on their sixth album, Singin’ To An Empty Chair. It’s an exquisitely produced work that many critics are calling their best work yet—but are they correct?

The sixth album by Chicago’s Ratboys is a fine distillation of their myriad charms. Exquisitely produced by former Death Cab For Cutie guitarist Chris Walla, songs like “Anywhere” are up there with any in the band’s storied catalogue. Critics have embraced Singin’ To An Empty Chair, with many proclaiming it their best yet, and with Ratboys boasting a sound that could almost have been engineered to match my taste profile, I expected to join them.

So, why does Singin’ To An Empty Chair feel curiously flat to me? Of course, it’s not a bad record—I don’t think Ratboys have got a bad record in them—but it just seems to be missing that extra gear at times, a problem that is particularly evident in its relatively sedate middle third.

Admittedly, Singin’ To An Empty Chair gets off to a flyer with “Open Up,” a shuffling mid-tempo number that builds to a raucous crescendo, as Julia Steiner repeatedly asks, “What’s it gonna take to open up this time?” A fair question, and one that I was quietly pondering as the alt-country plodder “Penny in the Lake” segued into “Strange Love” and then “The World, So Madly.” Individually, these three songs are pleasantly inoffensive and superficially pretty; collectively, they have the effect of sapping Singin’ To An Empty Chair’s momentum.

Ratboys rally somewhat for the finale. Even if none of the record’s final four tracks recapture the fizz of its opening stretch, or come close to matching the power pop delights of “Anywhere,” the jangly “What’s Right?” does at least provide a late highlight.

Ratboys have always sounded like an indie rock band comfortably integrating country elements alongside their core sound. On Singin’ To An Empty Chair they sound a little too comfortable at times. When the tempo drops and the guitars twang, the combination of Walla’s majestic production and Steiner’s crystal-clear vocal results in a sound that is a little too sweet for my tastes. For me, Printer’s Devil remains the definitive Ratboys record—and it’s not even close.

Singin’ To An Empty Chair is out now via New West.