72 Rats Find Liberation in Impermanence on ‘it all burns down someday’
Seattle post-punk and new wave devotees 72 Rats return with six songs about friendship, burnout and survival. The album traces a path from easy connection through exhaustion and isolation to a bruised kind of acceptance. Graham Bremner writes about being the dependable one while quietly running on empty. Driving riffs, filtered textures and live-band tension carry every confession. Out now on physical formats and Bandcamp, with streaming arriving October 9.
The title of ‘it all burns down someday’ sounds like a verdict, a shrug delivered at the end of a long week. Yet the six songs inside argue the opposite case with surprising warmth. For Seattle indie band 72 Rats, the knowledge that everything ends is not an invitation to give up. It is the reason to pay attention. If nothing lasts, then the only sensible question left is what to do with the time still on the clock, and across a tight run of just over 23 minutes, the band keeps circling that question with honesty, grit and a great deal of melodic charm.
Following releases such as ‘is it wrong’, ‘Nothing Left To Lose’ and ‘where did I hear that?’, the group continues to explore the outer edges of post-punk and new wave-influenced indie rock without losing the restless spirit that defines them. This new record feels immediate and adventurous at once, balancing driving rock energy against atmospheric passages and arrangements that reward repeat listens. The reference points are easy to hear, with the nervy intelligence, the jangling melancholy and the shadowed tension of legendary acts all echoing through the material. Still, 72 Rats never sound like a tribute act. The punk-inspired attitude is theirs, as is the live, spontaneous feel that keeps the performances sounding like people in a room rather than files in a computer.
That personality is built by a compact lineup. Graham Bremner handles vocals, guitars and bass, Epaminondas Trimis drives everything on drums and percussion, and Seth Ahnert adds keyboards to ‘I’m Too Tired’, ‘Pull Me Back’ and ‘Ready To Roll’. Recorded at Reas4 Studios and The Rats Nest in Woodinville, Washington, the album was produced by Bremner and Trimis, with Michael Springer returning to handle the mix and master. The result is a record that feels cohesive without ever becoming predictable.
The opening track, ‘Mellow Dramatic’, sets the emotional terms of the whole album within moments. Driving guitar riffs, a catchy bass line and lively drumming launch the song, and a memorable guitar hook and an infectious chorus give it an identity that sticks immediately. Lyrically, it is a portrait of reciprocal care. Two people trade turns unloading their problems, offering advice, buying another round and helping each other face whatever comes next. It is a small, unglamorous picture of friendship, and that is precisely its strength. Bremner sings with personality and intensity, and the arrangement never lets the energy dip, so even the song’s confessions come wrapped in momentum. It is the sound of two people keeping each other upright, and it frames everything that follows as an exploration of how we carry one another, and what happens when no one is carrying us.
‘Time Goes By’ pushes that idea outward. Built on foot-stomping rhythms, catchy vocal melodies and a superb rhythmic foundation, the song turns away from retreat and passivity. Its message is a nudge, and sometimes a shove, toward stepping out of familiar surroundings and making room for new people, places and experiences. The narrator urges the listener to leave the house and rejoin the world, and the brisk, almost cheerful delivery gives the advice an uplifting edge. Time keeps moving whether we are ready or not, so the song asks us to be ready anyway. Placed second, it works as the album’s first real argument for living fully, and its bounce makes the argument easy to accept.
The mood deepens with ‘I’m Too Tired’, where the band introduces a more experimental dimension. An iconic guitar line opens the track, which then develops through an intense and increasingly adventurous build. Layers of sound gather gradually, forming a kind of sonic architecture that mirrors the weight the title describes. The song never needs to over-explain its exhaustion, because the arrangement does the explaining, stacking texture on texture until the pressure feels physical. With Ahnert‘s keyboards joining the mix, the track shows how willing 72 Rats are to play with dynamics and structure while staying anchored to a live-band pulse. It is the album’s pivot, the moment where connection gives way to depletion, and it lands because the band trusts atmosphere as much as lyric.
That tension peaks on ‘Hidden’, arguably the emotional center of the record. Beautiful electric guitar strums create a dreamy, slightly surreal opening before the first verse erupts with renewed energy. Roaring yet detailed guitars sit alongside filtered vocal production, producing a dense, haunting sound in which every individual part remains audible. The lyrics turn the dependable person into a reluctant superhero. This is the one who can fix the problem, put out the fire and come up with the plan, while nobody notices that he might need rescuing himself. It is a sharp and sympathetic portrait of invisible burdens, the kind carried by anyone who has become the family’s, the workplace’s or the friend group’s designated solver. The cleverness lies in the contrast between the heroic imagery and the quiet loneliness underneath it. Bremner delivers another outstanding vocal performance, and the song lingers long after the final note fades.
‘Pull Me Back’ answers that loneliness with movement. A dynamic arrangement, intriguing keyboard lines and constantly shifting textures give the song a restless, searching energy. Set directly after Hidden, its title reads as a plea, and the record’s larger philosophy gives that plea its meaning. Asking for help is not weakness, and the song carries that idea in its structure as much as its words, with the band constantly reaching, regrouping and reaching again. It is energetic, captivating and a quiet showcase for the group’s versatility.
Closing the album, ‘Ready To Roll’ wisely refuses to manufacture a triumphant finale. The groove is relentless, and the bass pushes harder than anywhere else on the record, propelling the song with huge distortion tones while the rhythm section takes center stage. Yet the narrator remains tired, uncertain and without much idea of what comes next. That honesty is the point. Reflective lyrics, melodic vocals and catchy rock riffs bring the album’s themes together, but the resolution on offer is modest and believable. Progress, here, can amount to little more than getting through today and being ready to roll again tomorrow. It is a conclusion that feels earned precisely because it does not pretend to solve anything.
What ties these songs together is the straightforward candor. Bremner tends to state his ideas plainly rather than burying them in elaborate imagery, and the instrumentation hits the listener head-on instead of hiding beneath glossy production. Distorted guitars shift between different levels of density and rhythmic emphasis, nuanced chord voicings widen the palette, and the whole record balances post-punk restraint with the looseness of indie rock. It is not a pretentious album. It reaches instead for the smaller, humbler realization that nobody really has the answers to life’s great questions, and that admitting so can be a relief.
That humility is what makes the record resonate. Family, work and the gap between who you want to be and the energy you have left are struggles most listeners know intimately, and 72 Rats present them as universal and temporary rather than as personal failures. Friendship matters. Getting outside matters. Admitting you are exhausted matters. And things matter, in the end, because they disappear.
‘it all burns down someday’ arrived on CD, cassette, Bandcamp and Subvert on October 2, and reaches all major streaming platforms on October 9. For anyone drawn to adventurous post-punk, new wave and indie rock, it is an essential listen, bold, energetic, introspective and wonderfully unpredictable. For a record so preoccupied with endings, 72 Rats have made something surprisingly committed to carrying on.
OFFICIAL LINKS:
https://www.youtube.com/@72RatsBand
https://www.facebook.com/72Rats
https://open.spotify.com/artist/3btqTTom4TBpwJ0YOkNEPS?si=LfvaHExVQd-_o0UFgEbrlw
