Pre-order of Singin’ to an Empty Chair. You get 4 tracks now (streaming via the free Bandcamp app and also available as a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more), plus the complete album the moment it’s released.
Purchasable with gift card
Download available in 24-bit/96kHz.
releases February 6, 2026
$10USD or more
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
- 150g black vinyl
- 12", 2-LP, gatefold
- 4th side etching
Includes digital pre-order of Singin’ to an Empty Chair.
You get 4 tracks now
(streaming via the free Bandcamp app
and also available as a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more), plus the
complete album the moment it’s released.
Download available in 24-bit/96kHz.
shipping out on or around February 6, 2026
Purchasable with gift card
$30USDor more
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
- Digiwallet
- Signed
Includes digital pre-order of Singin’ to an Empty Chair.
You get 4 tracks now
(streaming via the free Bandcamp app
and also available as a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more), plus the
complete album the moment it’s released.
Download available in 24-bit/96kHz.
shipping out on or around February 6, 2026
Purchasable with gift card
$15USDor more
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
- Digiwallet
Includes digital pre-order of Singin’ to an Empty Chair.
You get 4 tracks now
(streaming via the free Bandcamp app
and also available as a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more), plus the
complete album the moment it’s released.
Download available in 24-bit/96kHz.
shipping out on or around February 6, 2026
Purchasable with gift card
$15USDor more
Cassette + Digital Album
- Jewel Case
Includes digital pre-order of Singin’ to an Empty Chair.
You get 4 tracks now
(streaming via the free Bandcamp app
and also available as a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more), plus the
complete album the moment it’s released.
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Ratboys - Singin’ to an Empty Chair [SIGNED New West Exclusive Color Vinyl]
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
- 150g white with pink splatter color vinyl
- 12", 2-LP, gatefold
- 4th side etching
- Signed
Includes digital pre-order of Singin’ to an Empty Chair.
You get 4 tracks now
(streaming via the free Bandcamp app
and also available as a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more), plus the
complete album the moment it’s released.
Despite its title, Ratboys’ new album Singin’ to an Empty Chair is not defined by what’s missing. Rather, it’s the beginning of an important dialogue with a close loved one vocalist Julia Steiner finds herself estranged from. The music on the band’s sixth studio album – its first for New West Records – fills the space that person left behind with 11 songs showcasing Ratboys at the peak of their powers — twangy, effervescent, as confident as they’ve ever been, and perhaps more emotionally interrogative than ever before. The four-piece Chicago band followed up 2023’s highly acclaimed The Window by reconvening with co-producer Chris Walla to begin tracking at a rural Wisconsin cabin before taking the songs to Steve Albini’s famed Electrical Audio studios in Chicago and later to Rosebud Studio in Evanston, Illinois. The results veer from bubbly power-pop on “Anywhere” to irresistible post-country on “Penny in the Lake,” along with heart-piercing ballads like “Just Want You to Know the Truth” and an exhilarating detour into the extraterrestrial on “Light Night Mountains All That,” which Steiner dubs the band’s mammoth “wormhole jam.” Singin’ to an Empty Chair also marks the first Ratboys album written since Steiner began therapy, which the singer/lyricist credits for the clarity found across the album’s unflinching examinations of relationship and self. Fittingly, as the album begins by extending a hand into the void, it concludes with a scene of serenity – all while weaving candid honesty, humor, chaos, and whimsy along the way. “It's not all doom and gloom,” Steiner says. “The experience of making this record definitely gives me hope for whatever happens next.”
credits
releases February 6, 2026
Produced by Chris Walla and Ratboys
Recorded and engineered by Chris Walla at Driftless Cabin (Richland Center, WI), Electrical Audio (Chicago, IL), and Rosebud Studio (Evanston, IL) in February 2025
Assisted by Taylor Hales at Electrical Audio
All tracks mixed by Chris Shaw except for “Open Up” and “Just Want You to Know the Truth” mixed by Chris Walla
Mastered by Heba Kadry - New York, NY
Art Direction, Layout & Photography: Marcus Nuccio
Acoustic and electric guitar, vocals, and lyrics by Julia Steiner
Electric guitar and pocket piano by Dave Sagan
Bass, synth bass, and vocals by Sean Neumann
Drums, tambourine, shaker, and synthesizers by Marcus Nuccio
Piano and tape loops on “Just Want You to Know the Truth” and “Burn It Down”
Synthesizer and tape loops on “Open Up”
Synthesizer on “The World, So Madly”
Piano on “Light Night Mountains All That” by Chris Walla
Cello on “Open Up” by Elizabeth Jordan at Electrical Audio
Pedal steel on “Just Want You to Know the Truth” by Andy Krull at the Rat Haus
Hammond B-3 Organ on “At Peace in the Hundred Acre Wood” by Jenny Conlee at The Panther
supported by 116 fans who also own “Singin’ to an Empty Chair”
Caroline Rose has had me listening to exclusively this album for over a month now(edit: more than half the year, I fear something is wrong). It exudes a care that I feel very few pieces of media today actually have. The oscillation between grief, darkness, and humor are masterfully executed. It's nice not to go through the grieving process alone. I'd love to say the whole album is my favorite but love song for myself is just a perfect song to me. calloh
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