{"product_id":"rats-on-rafts-deep-below-grey-vinyl","title":"Rats on Rafts - Deep Below (Grey Vinyl)","description":"\u003cp\u003eRats on Rafts descend further into the brooding wasteland on their new album ‘Deep Below’, a darker, slower, eroded sound from the\n\u003cbr\u003eRotterdam band. Highlighting different shades within the monochrome landscape compared to their previous, more colourful albums:\n\u003cbr\u003e3\n\u003cbr\u003ethey dive deeper into their psyche, questioning our relationships with nature, religion and each other. Echoes of The Cure, Cocteau\n\u003cbr\u003eTwins and Slowdive seem present yet so many different influences make up an album that only they could create. It sees Rats on Rafts\n\u003cbr\u003ecoming of age whilst raising their heads from the underground. Forever drifting into new territory, ‘Deep Below’ is certainly their darkest\n\u003cbr\u003eand most cohesive work to date. True to their analogue recording process, the tape machines, reverbs, echoes and vital new\n\u003cbr\u003eingredients: the Soundcraft 1s mixing desk (Used by Lee Perry) and the eerie sounding Eminent String Ensemble synth all amplify the\n\u003cbr\u003eauthentic sounds of the 1980’s without sounding like a relic. ‘Japanese Medicine’ is a haunting minor chord piece driven by debris of icy\n\u003cbr\u003echiming guitars, galloping drums and waves of lush synths. lyrically it gathers memories of teenage friendship, littered with cigarettes,\n\u003cbr\u003elife-changing records, punctuated with the dark thoughts and the demons they summon up. Though the band have kept the songs\n\u003cbr\u003erelatively slow-paced and sparse, deeper ruminations of mortality and alienation creep through the cracks. ‘Nature Breaks’, the most\n\u003cbr\u003epropulsive song on the record, thematically locks into this notion, as Fagan meditates on human impulse in the face of abject survival,\n\u003cbr\u003eand how those situations often unlock one's true self. You may conclude Rotterdam’s Rats on Rafts relationship with the past is\n\u003cbr\u003ecomplicated. ‘The Moon Is Big’ (2011) ‘Tape Hiss’ (2015) and ‘Excerpts From Chapter 3’ (2021) are truly gripping analog timestamps of\n\u003cbr\u003ea band refusing to give in to the supposed ‘progress of the world’ instead forging their own way each time. ‘Deep Below’ is Rats on\n\u003cbr\u003eRafts’ most minimalist work since their 2011 debut. Where the latter album was fuelled by a brash bravado, these recordings meditate\n\u003cbr\u003eon sentiments of doubt, loss, and ageing. “One of the great contemporary European rock bands” Louder Than War.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Fire Records","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53583942713718,"sku":null,"price":26.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0568\/6450\/6005\/files\/ratsonrafts.jpg?v=1730900606","url":"https:\/\/www.stickyblacktarmac.com\/products\/rats-on-rafts-deep-below-grey-vinyl","provider":"Sticky Black Tarmac","version":"1.0","type":"link"}