One of the Netherlands’ most progressive band’s in recent years, Rats On Rafts’ announce ‘Excerpts From Chapter 3 (Deluxe Edition)’ release out 23rd September with new live track ‘The Rise & Fall Of The Plague (Live at TivoliVrendenburg)’.
‘Excerpts From Chapter 3’ revisits their acclaimed third album with newly added B-side ‘Osaka’ and unreleased live music recorded at TivoliVredenburg as part of an interdisciplinary music film last summer with long-time collaborators A Small Production Company. The live set will be released on super-limited edition on vinyl, 500 units only, while the deluxe digital version will include the live set alongside the album celebrating the band’s upcoming Le Guess Who performance that will see them play the album in its entirety on 10th November.
Now available, new live single ‘The Rise & Fall Of The Plague (Live at TivoliVrendenburg)’ is Rats On Rafts’ own take on science fiction that’s also loosely based on the demise of the band’s previous line up. Natasha van Waardenburg’s powerful bass line is the driving force at its core with dramatic Morricone-esque arrangements bringing a movie-like narrative to the song. This is further explored with the addition of a choir on this newly released live version.
“One of my favourite Rats On Rafts bass lines, the song was written around Natasha’s bassline, we stretched it into a long science fiction story. It tells the story of people who have been isolated by their government and are fighting back while they discover someone on the inside is a traitor. It was intended to be experienced as you would watching a movie, so it was the perfect piece to be recreated live with visual artist Jordi Cárdenas Lozano who created shadow play based on the lyrics as part of the ‘Visions Of Chapter 3’ live performance” adds David Fagan
Initially a concept set, ‘Excerpts From Chapter 3’ subsumed itself and, in doing so, became a concept piece in its own right; a fragmented journey into the id punctuated with rhythmic kabuki modal mood swings, thunderstorms and digital beeps reminding that time is ticking – something of an aside in this analogue recorded set. There are voices revealing snippets of the story, traffic noise, and just plain old beautiful cacophonous reverb-drenched sound when needed. It’s light, it’s dark; it’s darker still.
Each song spins a yarn; there are plagues, dreams, wind and fire, ‘mythical’ characters, and the search for the secret government warehouse. Drinking in the sounds of Van Dyke Parks (Song Cycle) Scott Walker (3 & 4), Hawkwind (Space Ritual), White Noise (An Electric Storm), Stano (Content To Write In I Dine Weathercraft) and Pere Ubu (New Picnic Time).
‘Tape Hiss’ was their very own sketch of a sketch for an incomplete concept album, a noisy reaction to their previous life, ‘Excerpts From Chapter 3’, with all its interlaced intricacies, is the realisation of their transition from punk-spiked-pop to psyche-pop protagonists.
