Chicago indie-rock band Ratboys have announced a new album: “Singin’ to an Empty Chair” is out out February 2026 via New West. Featured on the album is the new single “Anywhere,” a tightly wound slice of pop-rock with a music video directed by Bobby Butterscotch.
“Singin’ to an Empty Chair” spans 11 songs—including recent track “Light Night Mountains All That”—and was produced by Chris Walla, the former Death Cab for Cutie member who also worked on the band’s 2023 album, “The Window”. According to a press release, singer-guitarist Julia Steiner penned most of the songs after attending therapy for the first time and finding new ways to work through a tough, but necessary, conversation with a loved one from whom she’s estranged.
“The goal is to update this person on what’s been going on in my life and to try to bridge that impasse and reach out a hand into the void,” explained Steiner. To do so, she followed the “Empty Chair” technique learned in therapy, during which a person attempts to have a difficult conversation with someone who isn’t physically present by imagining they’re in a chair opposite them and speaking directly to it.
Ratboys recently announced a 2026 North American tour, which begins on February in Detroit, and lasts on through until mid-April. “Singin’ to an Empty Chair” is out in February via New West Records
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