Last Updated on November 23, 2022, 5:29 PM | Published: November 23, 2022
It seems impossible to believe, but it’s now been over twenty years since the turn-of-the-century post-punk revival and the explosion of the “New York sound.”
Bands like The Walkmen, Interpol, and the undisputed leaders and champions of the NYC scene, The Strokes all shrugged off the melodramatic angst and theatrics of late-90s alternative rock and nu-metal and replaced it with a detached monotone and further proof that all you need is three chords.
The bedrock of the movement was always simplicity, just some fuzzy guitars, driving drum beats, simple chord progressions, and simple vocal melodies both nihilistic and wailing. But it was the attitude that made it work, and more than that, it was the attitude that came to define an entire generation of massively influential and enduring bands.
Now two decades later, OKC’s Rat F!nk (pronounced “rat fink”) has hurled his hat into the same rock ‘n’ roll ring with “Year of the Rat,” part of a newly growing and developing movement of young artists drawing from the same inner-city desensitization and the same underlying ethos of simplicity.
Rat F!nk is perhaps best known for his work as producer and collaborator for breakout OKC star Lincka, but his solo tracks are wholly different, showcasing a penchant for sparse, unapologetically straightforward rock and the kind of anxious energy/drunken swagger blend that only comes from years on the club scene.
Comparisons to The Strokes feel almost too easy. Sure, the songs here are built on tight, bone-dry drum beats and wide-swinging guitar strumming, but the little lead guitar lines and melodies that float through the tracks carry more atmosphere and, for lack of a better word, more sadness than anything from “Is This It.” While the tonal similarities to The Strokes are admittedly strong, the songwriting and the frenzied emotional weight behind it come across much more in line with another New York band of the time, the tragically underheard French Kicks.
There’s an element of longing in the songs on “Year of the Rat” that feels appropriate for something so openly harkening back to another time, but that also feels relevant and current in a timeless way.
And that’s because underneath all the open-collared swagger and disinterested “coolness” that defines this particular brand of rock, Rat F!nk leaves a breadcrumb trail of buried mistakes, regrets, and failed attempts at running away.
Closer “Sometimes I Wish I Never Met You” makes these themes clear as day. Where you might expect that title to announce a song of seething resentment, you’re instead met with a shockingly earnest understanding of both the balance and equal blame of a failed relationship.
“Big Promotions” is something of a different story.
You wouldn’t immediately think that a bad job anthem about hating your workplace could be especially sad or regretful. But this one is much less an angrily defiant punk rock rallying cry and more the depressed song we all sing to ourselves while biting the bullet and rushing off to work. It’s an anthem for everyone that knows they hate their job, but also knows they’re trapped in it and resigned to daydreaming about skipping out rather than actually bailing.
And that leaves opener “Let it Ring, it’s 3:33,” maybe the most emotionally impenetrable track.
On the first pass, it’s an ode to inebriated love and young, stupid fun of the very best kind.
On closer inspection, it’s a pleading request to continue ignoring the world outside in favor of a few more moments alone. It’s your lover’s phone ringing to wake them from the world of late-night mistakes that you made together and your own desperate attempt to play it off like it’s no big deal.
Just like the bad jobs and bad breakups, it’s a place that so many of us have been, whether as a distant moment in time or as a continuing cycle of self-abuse. That persistent attitude of confident detachment can be enlightened hindsight just as easily as it can be current denial and a brave face.
Maybe these songs are just fun, minimalist rock tracks about disaffected youth and all the perils and pitfalls of early adulthood. Maybe “the rat” is just Mr. F!nk himself, and this is his year to finally claim the limelight.
Or maybe these songs are all about one thing on the surface, but with something uninvited living underneath, feeding on your scraps and chewing through your wires.
“Year of the Rat” by Rat F!nk is available now on all streaming platforms.
Follow Rat F!nk online at facebook.com/ratfinkmusik and Instagram at @ratfinkstinks.
Brett Fieldcamp has been covering arts, entertainment, news, housing, and culture in Oklahoma for nearly 15 years, writing for several local and state publications. He’s also a musician and songwriter and holds a certification as Specialist of Spirits from The Society of Wine Educators.
