Live Review: Rat & Co's weird world expands with new single 'Soldiers'

In the lead up to the release of RAT & CO’s album Third Law on the 25^th of August, they’ve delivered their second single ‘Soldiers’ and music video, which continues the narrative from previous single ‘AI’. This time featuring the vocals of Liahona, it’s a far more relatable and striking track that cements Rat & Co’s place in their niche, and highlights their growing ability to bleed through to mainstream electronic.

The ‘Soldiers’ video clip follows a distorted narrative, in that it’s less straight forward and an animalistic fight for identity. Two men roam an Australian outback, bursting with energy and expressing against nothing until they met one another – in which, in the most Australian male way they can – they fight. The video, not necessarily defined by the aggression, serves a higher purpose to highlight the decay in which Rat & Co’s music video universe takes place; civility is gone and humans are more akin to animals than ever. It's an intriguing prophecy of the future, that in our modern age is not unrealistic.

The track itself is beautifully made: the simultaneously breathy and powerful voice of Liahona provides direction in what is a sample-laden and meticulously arranged beat. The breakbeat which underpins the track is a constant reminder that the track is technically dance music, however, it is the combination of Rat & Co’s dense production and Liahona’s heavenly voice that elevate it into a pure electronic story. Rat & Co are telling a comprehensive story of a world yet to be addressed and this is but our first taste. Only time will tell, when Rat & Co’s Third Law drops and we find out what they make of the future.

WORDS BY LLOYD CRACKETT

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