Featuring Perry M. Anderson (Family Manderson, Sunshine Republic, KLLR), Ian Catskilkin (Art Brut and Future of the Left), Ross Davies (Hot Sauce Pony, Modern Men, Brenda) and Anna Dodridge (Hot Sauce Pony, Family Manderson), Rat The Magnificent are a London-based post punk supergroup, whose sound leans toward the genre's darker, fuzzier and more nervy nature.
The band released their first EP back in late 2014, and have now returned with its sequel, a brooding and sure enough impressive three-song release. In the Middle comes off Rat The Magnificent’s upcoming debut album The Body As Pleasure, scheduled to be released on the independent label TTWD Records in Spring 2018.
Leading track, , is a killer, a gutsy piece which the band describes as "an ode to lust," while its captivating b-sides, the monotonous, fast-paced and more immediate Itch 2, and More 2, a slower, hypnotic, seven-minute piece, both feature Jen Macro (Hurtling, My Bloody Valentine, Graham Coxon, Charlotte Hatherley) on guitar.
Throw the darkest bits and pieces of post-punk, slowcore, grunge, noise rock and shoegaze in a blender, stir, wrap it up in pristine fuzzy production and amplify times ten the agitation you get from the mix, and maybe you'll get the drift of what RTM are about.
The fantastic video for Itch 2 was filmed by the band's own Perry M. Anderson, Ross Davies and Anna Dodridge.
ZR