by Taylor Ysteboe (@discoysteboe)
What does home mean? A big question, I know. It elicits different answers depending on your age. When you’re young, your response is typically the house you live in with your parents and siblings. When you’re older, your reply might be more complicated. Maybe home is the apartment you share with three roommates. Or perhaps it’s the city you’ve visited only once but aspire to move to.
Vocalist/guitarist Julia Steiner contemplates this question and the broader theme of growing up and evolving throughout Ratboys’ third record, Printer’s Devil. Formerly a duo comprised of Steiner and guitarist Dave Sagan, the Chicago-based band has expanded to a four-piece that also includes bassist Sean Neumann and drummer Marcus Nuccio.
One song that encapsulates this message of metamorphosis is nestled in the middle of the record. “I Go Out at Night” starts with Steiner singing, “I just had a thought / What if I never came home?” In her wistful tone, Steiner invites herself to venture outside of what she finds comfortable while also confessing her hesitancies and fears. She echoes a similar sentiment in the record’s thrilling opener, “Alien with a Sleep Mask On” when she sings, “It’s time for a change of scenery.”
Steiner’s smart songwriting focuses on small, concrete details as a way to touch on these bigger concepts of alienation and wanderlust. In the mellow “I Go Out at Night,” she remarks that she plans to get a job uninstalling payphones, and in the deeply intimate “A Vision,” she mentions walking in the backyard and going to get breakfast. In a go-go-go society, Steiner makes these simple actions seem both enticing and fulfilling.
These two songs are rather delicate, but Printer’s Devil also features more raucous tunes, including the aforementioned “Alien with a Sleep Mask On” and “Look To.” The latter in particular shreds hard. While Steiner glues the song together with the punchy repetition of “I don’t want to choose / I just don’t know who to look to,” the rollicking guitar playing is the highlight of the track.
The eclectic nature of the album continues with “Victorian Slumhouse,” which carries more of a country vibe than the rest of the record. Steiner adopts a slightly husky twang and dips her voice low and slow in this edgy, power-hungry piece.
Regardless of which direction each song takes, the band never loses its momentum with its thoughtful storytelling and melodies that are at once heart pounding and heart wrenching. In these ten songs, Ratboys are sifting through the past like one would open dusty, nearly forgotten boxes in an attic. They’re also embracing future adventures with abandon, even if that means leaving home for awhile.