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Feb 10, 2021 Rats on Rafts By Dom Gourlay

It will be 10 years in September since Rats on Rafts released their debut, The Moon Is Big. Yet to many observers and listeners they’re a brand-new band to all intents and purposes.

Probably because the insular attitudes within both the UK and US markets to look towards mainland Europe for inspiration makes this a key factor. However, their back catalogue is a rollercoaster ride of ideas and emotions, each one driven by a propensity to make the next excursion bigger and better than its predecessor. So, if you’re a latecomer to the wares of this Rotterdam based four-piece, Excerpts From Chapter 3: The Mind Runs a Net of Rabbit Paths is as good a place as any to start, not least because it arguably represents their finest collection of songs to date.

Whereas its predecessor, 2015’s Tape Hiss, reveled in angular post-punk rhythms and textures, Excerpts From Chapter 3 is an entirely different specimen altogether. It’s a concept album of sorts, only one that takes the notion as far away from its stereotypical expectations of long-haired thirty-somethings dressed in capes and gowns as possible. Instead, the world Rats on Rafts inhabit is somewhat darker. Plagues are omnipresent throughout, as are wind and fire, while the search for the government’s secret hiding place goes on.

Its mélange of sonics shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that has seen the band live. Indeed, every Rats on Rafts show I’ve witnessed has been memorable for one reason or another, whether it sweating away several liters of body fluid at the end of 2016’s Liverpool Psych Fest or providing refuge from the swarms of Jeremy Corbyn acolytes at Glastonbury the following summer.

Each of Excerpts From Chapter 3‘s 13 pieces serves a purpose from a record that demands the listener’s full attention from the outset. There really is no filler here. It’s difficult to envisage how the band eventually arrived at the finished article but they’ve created something of a masterpiece. Whether that be intentionally or otherwise.

Lead singles “A Trail of Wind and Fire” and “Tokyo Music Experience” only tell a small part of the story. Both are equally mesmerizing and as radio friendly as Rats on Rafts are ever likely to get, yet also menacing beneath their shiny veneer. The proggy “Where Is My Dream?” and “Second Born Child” sound like dystopian eulogies to a parallel universe, while “Part One: The Long Drought” and “Part Two: Crossing the Desert” make for an uneasy yet aurally riveting listen.

Bookended by a prologue and epilogue (“Rain” and “Big Poisonous Shadows” respectively) as any self-respecting concept album should be. Excerpts From Chapter 3 is a challenging yet refreshing journey through the minds of its creators that will hopefully sit high on many end of year “Best Ofs” come December. While more importantly, also leaving the door wide open for Rats on Rafts’ next big adventure. (www.ratsonrafts.com)

Author rating: 8.5/10