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Ratboys<\/a> is having a breakthrough.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe show that we just played in D.C. was our biggest headline show to date, and that sold out,\u201d says Julia Steiner, the band\u2019s singer and resident wordsmith. \u201cIt was like 1,200 tickets, so it\u2019s kind of crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n The band\u2019s critically lauded new record, Singin\u2019 to an Empty Chair<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>has attracted the attention of everyone from venues across the country to Zane Lowe<\/a>.<\/p>\n Part of the reason for the album\u2019s success is that while writing it, Steiner had a breakthrough of her own, courtesy of something the title hints at.<\/p>\n \u201cThe empty chair was something that my therapist mentioned to me in an offhand way,\u201d says Steiner of the therapeutic technique used to help resolve internal conflicts or interpersonal issues by having the person speak to an empty chair as if the person is seated across from them.<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t take a lot of prep. \u2026 If you have a chair and a room, you\u2019re good,\u201d she continues. So, after politely asking her partner, Ratboys lead guitarist David Sagan, to exit the room, Steiner recorded a voice memo of a simulated conversation with a shall-remain-nameless relative from whom she is estranged.<\/p>\n \u201cRecording that was really helpful for me because then I could listen back and make notes about certain feelings,\u201d she says, \u201cbut also memories and even just little word choices that I wouldn\u2019t have initially picked up on.\u201d<\/p>\n Afterward, Steiner wrote the lyrics to the album\u2019s eleven songs over the next year before decamping to rural Wisconsin with the rest of the Chicago-born band to track everything, with Death Cab for Cutie\u2019s Chris Walla once again handling production. Songs from Singin\u2019 to an Empty Chair will be a highlight of Ratboys\u2019 upcoming show at the Bluebird Theater<\/a> on Monday, April 13.<\/p>\n Despite the heavy subject matter, Steiner says she felt more than comfortable working through the emotionally weighty songs with her bandmates.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re fully apprised of all the lore and history,\u201d she says with a chuckle. \u201cThe dynamic that I cherish most in the band is just how much I trust my bandmates and vice versa.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is going to sound insane, but yesterday I was watching the Dream Theater drum auditions<\/a> on YouTube, and they were talking about when Mike Portnoy left the band in 2010 and how it really felt like they were losing a family member,\u201d she continues. \u201cThey had been to funerals and weddings together, confided in each other at the darkest, most challenging parts of their lives, and that really resonated with me because it is so true. And that\u2019s what we\u2019ve built.\u201d<\/p>\n Steiner says that shared experience fosters greater trust in herself as a songwriter.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel myself with each record becoming more confident in my own voice,\u201d she says. \u201cAlso, we\u2019re becoming more capable in the studio and relating to each other with our own musical language. I mean, we\u2019ve gone through so many different phases. Like, I didn\u2019t own an electric guitar for the first few years we were in a band together, and now we\u2019re here.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHere\u201d is the best album of the band\u2019s decade-plus career. Singin\u2019 to an Empty Chair <\/em>is Ratboys\u2019 most accomplished and diverse record to date.\u00a0<\/p>\n It begins with \u201cOpen Up,\u201d where Steiner gently invites her empty-chair inspiration \u2014 and the listener \u2014 to do so over plaintive guitar strums, before the song builds to a righteous power-pop crescendo. On \u201cAnywhere,\u201d Steiner sings about having an anxious attachment style over a melody that could have been ripped straight from an early Posies record. The album then takes a three-song dip into alt-country before it peaks with \u201cJust Want You to Know the Truth,\u201d the eight-and-a-half-minute centerpiece where Steiner investigates her history with the person and what led to their estrangement.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not all heavy, though. Steiner, a former English major, litters her songs with fun phrases that stick in your brain. Just a few lines into \u201cOpen Up,\u201d Steiner drops the gem, \u201cbending my back to break the ice.\u201d On \u201cPenny in the Lake,\u201d she jokes that the song\u2019s title is \u201cjust someone\u2019s wish they forgot.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Steiner cites her college classes as a strong influence not just on the words she was writing, but also on the importance of context and delivery.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the most humbling discoveries that I made was in poetry class because I thought, \u2018This is great, I\u2019ll just submit my lyrics and won\u2019t have to do homework,\u2019\u201d she reminisces. \u201cThen I realized immediately that the rhythm of the spoken word versus how lyrics fit into a song is so different and context-dependent. You can have a song where a single syllable is held out for emphasis till the end of time, and if you read that on the page, it won\u2019t read the same way. I think interacting with language in this way is an exciting excuse to just appreciate how words work together.\u201d<\/p>\n Fans seem to be excited, too.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople seem genuinely energized by the new tunes,\u201d says Steiner. \u201cA friend of ours in New York mentioned to me how many conversations she overheard at the show about how it was people\u2019s first time seeing us. \u2026 I just kind of assumed that everyone [there] would have already been to shows of ours before.\u201d<\/p>\n Steiner also notes how happy she\u2019s been to play some historic venues along the way, and some she hopes to play in the future.<\/p>\n \u201cA dream of mine is to play Red Rocks,\u201d she says. \u201cJust to be amongst the ancient geology of the Earth and play these songs that are so visceral and elemental to us.\u201d<\/p>\n There is even a possibility that she might reconcile with the album\u2019s inspiration by then. \u201cI mailed a CD and a postcard right before the first leg of this tour, so we\u2019ll see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n Ratboys, 8 p.m. Monday, April 13, Bluebird Theater, 3317 East Colfax Avenue. Tickets<\/a> are available via AXS.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n