"This album has been my most sonically ambitious record to create – following my own musical path - which isn’t based on others’ perceptions of what SBTRKT should be."
Image: Nick Walker
SBTRKT has today revealed his third studio album The Rat Road will release on the 5th of May.
The album is 7 years in the making and signifies a significant period of evolution for the producer. Alongside the news he has also released new track Waiting alongside alternative music emerging icon Teezo Touchdown.
The new single evokes gorgeous bliss with its stripped down elements. It's ambient qualities glow, as hypnagogic synths and mellow chords drench Teezo's vocals.
On the record SBTRKT stated, "This album has been my most sonically ambitious record to create – following my own musical path - which isn’t based on others’ perceptions of what SBTRKT should be."
On breaking the musical mould of SBTRKT he found the album's title.
"‘The Rat Road’ title is a play on the concept of ‘the rat race’. It’s partly based on my own challenging experiences within the music industry and life generally - though I realised the idea is not isolated from a much wider feeling of exhaustion – definitely true here in the UK with little sense of respite from ever-increasing costs/ decreasing opportunity / and a bold divide and conquer mentality.
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"There is the juxtaposition in the record between determination and hopelessness."
On leading his album release with Waiting he stated that, "Musically its an expansion on my previous records - with a purposefully wider and more layered sound. All instruments on this song and the album played, recorded, produced and mixed by me.”
SBTRKT emerged onto the scene in the 2010s with two critically adored records. His electronic glitch heavy sound defined a generation, collaborating with the liks of Ezra Koenig, ASAP Ferg, Little Dragon, Sampha, Drake, and The Dream.