Rat Columns

The breezy indie pop band Rat Columns is headed up by busy Perth, Australia-based musician . His résumé includes membership in the noise rock band , punk group Burning Sensations, angular post-punkers , and electropop group . He's also released records under his own name and as Liberation. Rat Columns serves as the outlet for his poppiest, most lightweight songs, sitting somewhere between a more freewheeling and peak period if they jangled instead of rocked. The first Rat Columns record, a self-titled 7", was issued in 2011 and was followed by the Sceptre Hole album the next year. Along with on vocals and guitars, the band also featured Matt Bleyle on drums and Jonathan Young on guitar, keys, and vocals. The next couple years were dominated by other projects, which meant the next Rat Columns records didn't come out until 2014 when the "Stay" single and -produced Leaf album were both released. By this time, ex- member (and 's bandmate) was helping out on keyboards and percussion. The group returned in 2015 with two EPs, Do You Remember Real Pain? and Fooling Around. The band's lineup had shifted by the time recording for the next album commenced, and joining were keyboardist Louis Hooper, bassist/vocalist Amber Gempton, and drummer Chris Cobilis. Sessions in the small Perth suburb of Guildford yielded the second Rat Columns album, which blended the indie pop of earlier recordings with some disco and gentle experimentalism. Candle Power was released in March of 2017 by . ~ Tim Sendra, Rovi